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HEAYENLY PLACES. 



HEAVENLY PLACES 



ADDRESSES 



ON 



THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 



BY 

' 

STEVENSON A. BLACKWOOD, 

AUTHOR OF "TRIUMPH OF FAITH," ETC. 



WITH AN 

INTRODUCTION. 

BY 

REV. WILLIAM E. BOARDMAN, D. D. 

A 
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^ 






WILLARD TRACT REPOSITORY, 

No. 2 BEACON HILL PLACE, BOSTON. 
No. 239 FOURTH AV., NEW YORK. 



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^^ 






COPYRIGHT, BY 

CHARLES CULLIS. 

1875. 



CONTENTS. 



THE LAND OF PROMISE ; OR, HEATENI T PLACES, 
THE DEATH OF MOSES ; OR, THE E>'D OF THE LAW, 
THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN ; OR, ENTRANCE BY FAITH, 
TWELVE STONES ; OR, BURIED WITH CHRIST, . 
TWELVE STONES ; OR, RISEN WITH CHRIST, 
GILGAL ; OR, THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST, . 
THE PASSOVER ; OR, REDEMPTION REMEMBERED, 
**THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND ;" OK, "STRONG MEAT,' 
THE DRAWN SWORD j OR, JESUS OUR LEADER, 



FAOS 
1 

15 

35 
54 

6S 

91 

114 

130 

155 



INTRODUCTION. 



-^>«<o 



Was it not a cruel thing that Caleb and Joshua were 
compelled to go back from Kadesh Barnea, the very line 
of the land flowing with milk and honey, and live with 
their people forty years in the wilderness, wherein was not 
even bread and water? They must do it. They were 
all ready to go on into the land and enjoy its com, and 
wine and oil, its hills and valleys, showers and springs, 
and to rejoice in them. Yet they had to return into the 
wilderness where no corn could grow from the soil, but 
where bread must be given them from heaven on the face 
of the sand and the rocks ; nor any wells did spring up 
in ever living streams, except as brought forth by the rod 
of God. Forty years long they were compelled to wander 
there, after having seen the green hills and vine-clad 
slopes, and olive yards, and springs, and streams, and 
flocks, and herds, with their own eyes, and after having 
taken into their hearts the assurance of God's promise 
that those very hills and valleys, houses and lands, with all 
their wealth, belonged to them as God's gift, and should 
at once be put into their hands. A cruel thing it was. 
How came it ? Who was to blame ? Not they, for they 
were all ready. Not God, for He had given all by 



IV . INTRODUCTION. 

promise, and stood ready to make His promise good by 
putting them into actual possession. Ah ! they could not 
leave their people, — the people of God, — their own dear 
people. They must dwell among them, and the people 
would not go in, nay, could not enter the land, because 
of unbelief. They looked at the giants and the walls in 
contrast with themselves, and were appalled. They did 
not look at them in contrast with God, or they would 
have gone on and gone in, and conquered and taken 
possession, singing all the way along. Therefore it was 
that the people turned back, and thus compelled Caleb 
and Joshua to serve with them and live with them, eat 
wilderness fare and share wilderness life with them in all 
its humblings, hungerings and wanderings. Murmur- 
ings they did not, could not, share with the people. They 
did not even murmur against the people, much less 
against God. Yet they, in fellowship with the long suffer- 
ing, — yes, the sufferings the suffering long of God, — 
they suffered the manners of the people in the wilderness 
while sharing with them wilderness fare. 

A cruel thing it is to-day that some in all the churches 
of our Lord, who have looked into the perfect law of 
liberty and are continuing therein, and who know how 
Eschol looks and tastes, are yet compelled to live in the 
wilderness upon wilderness fare from pulpit and prayer 
meeting and in daily conversation. They accept it and 
thank God for it, as the best they can get. They do not 
murmur or complain. They bear with meekness and 
gentleness the wretched complainings of those around 
them, even when they are made worse by being put in 
the doleful songs of their backsliding : — 



INTRODUCTION. Y 

"Where is the blessedness I knew, 
When first I saw the Lord, 
Where is the soul-refreshing view 
Of Jesus and His word ? ' ' 

But O ! is it not infinitely worse that Jesus, who says 
unto us, '^Lo, I am with you always" and our Father, 
who makes His abode with us, and our Comforter who 
dwells in us, should be compelled to serve with His 
people in their sins ? Was it not infinitely worse that the 
loving God should be grieved forty years long in the 
wilderness with His people, who turned back from the 
land through distrust of God's ability and willingness to 
fulfill His promise ? 

Is it not sad and awful to think how year after year the 
Spirit is grieved, the Son is dishonored, the Father dis- 
trusted ? 

But now there are Calebs and Joshuas all over the 
world, whose hearts are overjoyed with the voice of the 
Lord ringing through the churches, ' ' Arise ! go over this 
Jordan,'' and with the response from so many, ''Let us 
arise and go over, and possess the land. " Yes, there are 
Calebs and Joshuas who can take up the song of the 
Psalmist and sing it in the present tense : — 

" Now that the Lord is turning the captivity of Zion, 
We are like them that dream, 
Our mouth is filled with laughter, 
And our tongue with singing. 
Now we can say among the heathen 
The Lord hath done great things for us, 
Yea, the Lord hath done great things for us, 
Whereof we are glad.'^ 



Yl INTRODUCTION. 

And in this these rejoicing ones do but enter into the 
joy of the Lord. They have had fellowship with His 
sufferings ; now they have fellowship with His delights. 
O ! the joy of the Lord over every one who enters into 
the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel and there 
abides and grows ! 

One of the blessed things accompanying this great and 
growing work of God among His people, is the unfold- 
ing of the hitherto hidden treasures of His Word. In the 
wilderness life, all the bread eaten during the whole forty 
years was just that which they found on the surface from 
day to day. There was no soil to plough, there were no 
mines to work, nothing but arid sand and solid rock. 
Springs among the hills wherefrom to drink and give to 
the cattle, and to guide in irrigating streams over the lands ? 
Absurd ! There were none. Pools as treasure places for 
the rains of heaven, to be used in time of drought ? Fool- 
ish thought ! There were no grassy hills and vales for 
pools, nor any arable lands to be irrigated. The whole 
life was fitful, in tents ; the whole living was surface-fare. 
Plenty of room for murmuring, all the more because just 
over there was the land flowing with milk and honey, 
covered with corn and vines, studded with cities of stone ; 
a place of abiding, a place of rest, a place of abundance. 
Only, alas ! it was not theirs. They had rejected it, and 
they had chosen the wilderness with its tent life and 
surface living. 

But in life in the land, O how different ! The surface 
soil is rich, and all the land well watered, fresh and green. 
Deeper down the sub-soil plough brings a richer harvest. 
Artesian wells touch the abundant fountains springing up 



INTRODUCTION, VU 

and flowing forth in rivers of living water. Deeper, yet 
deeper, and up come gold, and diamonds, and every 
precious stone. 

The New Testament becomes a new book, glowing 
with a new glory through all its promises. The Old 
Testament, like the deep down strata of the rocks, shows 
forth the types of living things with a beauty and a force 
charming to the heart. 

As this work goes on, the area possible to the Colensos 
for footing amongst those who respect the Bible is every 
day growing narrower, and will narrower grow until the 
Colensos themselves will have no standing place upon it 
left for themselves. 

Such books as this, and others by the same dearly 
beloved author, are each but single artesian borings down 
to the exhaustless fountains stored up among the everlast- 
ing hills of the Pentateuch and other ancient Scriptures. 
Other rivers have flowed forth, and others yet wjll flow 
forth, enriching the paradise now regaining, the heavenly 
places in Christ Jesus into which we are coming, yea, 
come, now and here upon earth. 

Would any one like to know how to arise and go over 
this Jordan ? 

Accept it as true that a life of habitual victory over sin 
and union with Christ, is your present and perpetual 
privilege. Weigh every difiSculty that presents itself in 
the scale over against the power of God to overcome them 
— not over against your helplessness. Accept the fact 
that it is the power of God in you and with you, that is 
to overcome every thing against you within and without. 



Viii INTRODUCTION. 

Commit the whole work to Him to do. Commit your- 
self just as you are, to the Lord Jesus Christ as your 
Joshua. Trust Him to lead you, and give yourself up to 
obey Him in every thing. Let Him direct you in every 
step. Let Him show you what to put off and what to 
put on. Let Him have His own way with you. Say, 
*' Yes, yes, yes," to every thing He requires. Do it, too, 

do the yes, — step forth at His word, without waiting 

to see the way open, or to feel any strength, or see any 
light. Step forth into the very waters, trusting the Lord 
to open them. Yes, and go on when they are opened, 
into their very midst. There, there only, will you find it 
possible to set up the grave-stones of your old wilderness 
life, and to take up the memorial stones of your new life 
in the land. Thus, and thus only, under the leadership 
of Jesus, our Joshua, will you be able to reckon yourself 
dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through our 
Lord J^sus Christ. 

This done, let yourself alone in the hands of Jesus, 
and go on as He leads you to Gilgal with its circumcision 
and its passover, to Jericho with its shout and its victory, 
and through the valley of Achor, if need be, as a door of 
hope, and on, and on, from victory to victory, for so will 
He lead you. 

And then never again take yourself up at all, but let 
Christ have you with all your weaknesses, and all your 
burdens, and all your cares, and take you Him once for 
all and every moment afterwards, forever, as your present 
portion and your exceeding great reward. 

W. E. B. 



THE LAND OF PROMISE; OR, 
HEAVENLY PLAGES. 

Ephesians i. 3. 

** Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places 
in Christ/' 

The Chnrcli, thongli ^^ militant here on earth," is 
yet " seated in heavenly places." She is in a posi- 
tion of conflict and yet of rest, and the rest pre- 
cedes and is an indispensable condition of successful 
conflict. The believer finds peace with God, before 
he begins to fight /or God. 

" When his pardon is signed, and his peace is procured. 
From that moment his conflict begins." 

That position of assured pardon and settled 
peace, is described by the expression '' heavenly 
places," which is only used in the Epistle to the 
Ephesians ; but is there used five times, to set 
before the people of God their calling, dignity, and 
responsibility. 

It is said of Christ that '^ God raised Him from 



2 THE LAND OF PROMISE ; OR, 

the dead, and set Him at His own riglit hand in 
the heavenly places ^^'^ (i. 20.) 

It is said of those who are one with Christ, that 
^^ God hath quickened us together with Christ, and 
hath raised us up together, and made us sit to- 
gether v[\ heavenly places in Christ Jesus," (ii. 5, 6.) 

There they have everything which it is possible 
for God to give them, for He who is ^^ the God and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, hath blessed us 
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places iu 
Christ," (i. 3.) 

There angels behold in the mystery of the Church 
the perfection of God's counsel, for ^^ now unto the 
principalities and powers in heavenly places (is) 
known by the Church the manifold wisdom of 
God," (iii. 10.) 

But here, also, though the scene of all spiritual 
blessings, of assured forgiveness, of peace with God, 
is also the scene of determined, ceaseless war- 
fare, ''for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, 
but against principalities, against powers, against 
the rulers of the darkness of this world, against 
spiritual wickedness in heavenly places^'' (vi. 12.) 

'' Heavenly places," therefore, are not heaven. 
There there is no conflict^ no wrestling, no spiritual 
wickedness. The Church that is '' militant here 
on earth," is in '' heavenly places," though not in 
heaven. The redeemed from among men, who 
constitute that Church, are united to Christ, quick- 
ened with Christ, seated with Christ, blessed in 



HEAVENLY PLACES. 8 

Christ, exhibiting in Christ the wisdom of God, 
and fighting in Christ against His enemies. They 
are justified, but not glorified. Though in the 
sight of men they are on earth, in the sight of 
God they are in heavenly places ; for they are in 
Christ, and where the Head is, there is the body. 

^'Heavenly places" then describe that actual 
condition, in which every child of God by virtue 
of a new birth, every member of the bride of 
Christ by virtue of union, every living soul by 
virtue of resurrection, is already placed. In the 
sight of God and of angels, in the positive expe- 
rience of his own soul, he is in heavenly places, 
though his feet are yet on earth. 

This apparent contradiction is illustrated by the 
tribes of Israel when in the wilderness. They 
occupied a twofold position ; though it may seem 
strange to say so, they were in two pla-ces at once. 
As regarded their bodily position, they were in the 
wilderness — their feet trod the sand of the desert. 
As regarded their spiritual position, where were 
they ? Look for a moment into the tabernacle, 
and see the high priest as he walks amidst the 
shadows of the heavenly things, amidst those 
^' holy places," which were ^^ figures of the true." 
How is he dressed? What are those flashing 
jewels that he wears on his heart ? Twelve 
stones, each deeply graven " with the gravings of 
a signet," and exhibiting the name >of a tribe. 
They were deeply set in gold, securely fastened to 



4 THE LAm) OF PROMISE ; OR, 

the robe of glory by " chains of gold," and " laces 
of blue," so that they " should not be loosed from 
the ephod," " borne upon his heart continually 
for a memorial before Jehovah for ever." There 
was Israel representatively ; indissolubly united to 
their high priest — in the ever-burning brightness 
of the light of the holy place, — in its stillness of 
peace, removed from the stir and bustle of the 
camp, — fenced in by the curtains of fine linen, — 
sustained upon the shoulder and the heart of 
Aaron, — there was every Israelite; though strangers 
and pilgrims in the wilderness, they were at home 
in God. He was their dwelling and their resting- 
place. Few of them might have understood the 
figure, but it none the less exhibited a glorious 
truth. For it was a beautiful and expressive type 
of the twofold position of the Christian. Practically 
he is on earth, a pilgrim, a soldier, w^eary, hunger- 
ing, thirsting. Yii'tually he is in heavenly places, 
where Jesus his High Priest is, in the very pre- 
sence of God. " Your life is hid with Christ in 
God," (Col. iii. 3.) 

The twelve stones were indissoluble from the 
ephod, that garment which, being made of the same 
material as the veil, symbolised the flesh of Christ, 
(Heb. X. 20;) but which, being in addition inter- 
woven with gold, showed His immortality in resur- 
rection life, for it could not be rent. They could 
only be separated from the high priest's person by 
his divesting himself of his garments ^'for glory 



HEAVENLY PLACES. , 

and beauty.'* That he had to do when it became 
his duty to make atonement every year with blood 
of bulls and goats. But Jesus, our High Priest, 
has made atonement once for all, and once for ever. 
He need not, cannot lay His glory by again. " Christ, 
being raised from the dead, dieth no more." He 
wears for ever the garment for glory and beauty, and 
they who are joined to Him by the purpose and grace 
of Grod, can never be separated from Him. His life 
is their life. Nay, He is their life, and He says, 
" Because I live, ye shall live also." The believer 
may echo the triumphant words of the apostle, and 
say, " Who shall separate us from the love of 
Christ? I am persuaded that neither death, nor 
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
things present, nor things to come, nor height, 
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to 
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord," (Romans viii. 38, 39.) Jesus 
must lay aside His glory before one of His ran- 
somed ones can be taken from His heart. 

" The world may pasg and perish ; Thou, God, wilt not remove ; 
No hatred of all devils can part me from Thy love ; 
Ko hungering nor thirsting, no poverty nor care, 
No wrath of mighty princes can reach my shelter there. 
No angel, and no heaven, no throne, nor power, nor might, 
No love, no tribulation, no danger, fear, nor might ; 
No height, no depth, no creature that has been, or can be. 
Can drive me from Thy bosom — can sever me from Thee." * 

The type falls short of the antitype in this 
* Paul Qerhardt. 



6 THE LAND OF PROMISE ; OR, 

respect, that it was only in the holy place, not the 
most holy, that Aaron wore the breastplate. But 
the veil being rent, there is no division. Now, 
holj^ and most holy are one, and we have '^ boldness 
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." 

Here, then, is the twofold position of the child 
of God beautifully illustrated. Our feet are in the 
wilderness, but our names are on His heart, and 
our life is hid with Him. 

It is quite true that many may not realise that 
hidden life in its brightness, its peace, and its plen- 
tiful provision within the veil ; but it is none the 
less a glorious, unalterable fact ; and their dimness 
of perception, or their changeable feelings, can 
no more destroy its truth, than they can prevent 
the sun from shining. It is true of every child of 
God, of the youngest and feeblest as of the oldest 
and most advanced Christian. It does not depend 
on age, or intelligence, or strength, but upon union 
with a living Saviour. Every believer in Him is 
'^ quickened with Him," and " seated with Him in 
heavenly places." 

The possession of life is common to the babe, the 
young man, and the father ; the apprehension or 
enjoyment of life may, and does, vary in each. 
So with the children of God : one may but have 
just been born again — have realised forgiveness 
and salvation through the blood of the Lamb; 
another may be feeling that he is not only for- 
given and saved, but that he is also a pilgrim 



HEAVENLY PLACES. 7 

travelling througli the wilderness; while a third 
may have reached a further stage of experience, 
and though none the less forgiven, and none the 
less a pilgrim, he quietly enjoying the rest into 
which the Lord his God has brought him, under- 
standing in his deepest consciousness what it is to 
be ^^ seated in heavenly places." Nay, it may be 
that one and the same soul may, iii one little day, 
or one short hour, have experience of each phase 
of Christian life. 

Now these three stages are strikingly exemplified 
in the history of the Israelites, and we there find them 
very distinctly marked ofi" the one from the other. 
First, we see the period when they were saved from 
judgment by the blood of the lamb sprinkled on 
the door-posts ; then we see them delivered from 
Egypt by the passage of the Red Sea, and taking 
up their position as pilgrims in the wilderness ; 
lastly, we find them entering the land of rest 
through the river Jordan, and separated from the 
wilderness by its waters. And to this we have a 
precise counterpart in the experience of the believer 
in Jesus, who first realises that he has ^^redemp- 
tion through His blood, even the forgiveness of 
sins ;" then, that he is by that death delivered from 
this present evil world, and thereby constituted ^' a 
stranger here ; " then, that by ihe same Jesus, he is 
brought into heavenly places ; into a land which, 
though there be conflict there, is yet as abounding 
with all spiritual blessings as the earthly Canaan 



8 THE LAND OF PROMISE ; OR, 

abounded with every earthly gift that God could 
bestow on His people. 

It may be that sometimes the redeemed soul 
at once apprehends the marvellous position in 
which it is placed ; but, as a general rule, it will, 
I think, be found that the successive stages in 
Israel's history prefigure the spiritual history of 
the children of God. 

It is evidently this last, and most blessed stage 
of experience, that the Epistle to the Ephesians 
especially presents to us ; for it is there only that 
the expression, " heavenly places," occurs. There, 
all those spiritual blessings in Christ are unfolded to 
the people of God by the apostle in quick succes- 
sion, and the believer is shown how the love and 
power of God has made him who was ^^ far off" 
*^nigh by the blood of Christ," and caused those who 
were '^ dead in trespasses and sins," and by nature 
children of wrath, to be partakers of eternal life in 
Christ, and to be seated with Him in the very 
presence of His God and Father. Earnestly does 
the apostle pray in the first chapter that they to 
whom he is writing may have their understanding 
enlightened to apprehend these wondrous privileges, 
that they may know ^^ what is the hope of His calling, 
and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance 
in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness 
of His power to us-ward who believe, according 
to the working of His mighty power, which He 
wrought in Christ," (\. 18-20.) And again, in the 



HEAVENLY PLACES. 9 

third chapter, that they ^^may be able to compre- 
hend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, 
and depth, and height; and to know the love of 
Christ, which passeth knowledge, that they might 
be filled with all the fulness of God," (iii. 18, 19.) 

For the apprehension of these spiritual blessings 
is necessary for a boly walk and conversation. I 
must know my position and privileges as one with 
Jesus if I am to walk worthy of the vocation with 
which I am called ; and one great cause of the low 
standard of living amongst professing Christians 
may assuredly be found in the fact, that so many 
fail to see the glorious position and privileges of 
all who are truly united to Christ. To exhibit this, 
first to unfold the privileges, and then to enforce 
the responsibilities of the people of God, we may 
consider to be the leading thoughts of the Epistle 
in question. And it is with the view of enabling 
my readers in some measure to apprehend this that 
the following pages have been written. 

The Book of Joshua contains, I believe, in sha- 
dow, what the Epistle to the Ephesians exhibits 
in substance. Exodus shows us the people of God 
saved by the blood of the Lamb, and coming out of 
the world to serve God. Leviticus unfolds to •axs 
the priestly character of the redeemed, and the 
nature of true service. Numbers describes their 
wanderings and their sins. Deuteronomy contains 
a revelation of the will of God concerning their 
conduct when they should be come into the rest 



10 THE LAND OF PROMISE ; OR, 

whicli He was about to give them. Joshua presents 
them to us as entering by faith into the land of 
blessing — taking possession of a great part, if not 
of all, that the Lord had promised them — enjoying 
the rest of Canaan, and yet fighting inch by inch 
against the mighty nations whicli inhabited it. 
That book, therefore — dwelling, as it does, upon the 
rest and privileges of Israel, and at the same time 
describing their dangers, conflicts, and failures — is 
the exact counterpart of the Epistle to the Ephesians ; 
and its careful study cannot fiiil, under the gracious 
teaching of the Holy Spirit of God, to throw much 
light upon the glorious truths which are there 
written. 

This subject, I have no doubt, must have been 
frequently handled by those who have been more 
fitted to deal profitably witli it than I am. Having, 
however, been permitted, in two former works,* to 
convey, in the great goodness of God, some help to 
the hearts of others, I am encouraged now to send 
forth this fui'ther volume, which, like them, em- 
bodies the substance of addresses delivered some 
years ago, in the hope that He, whose glory I desire 
to promote, may be graciously pleased to bestow 
an additional and far greater blessing upon those 
wlio may read it. For any errors which it may 
contaiu, I alone am responsible; for the truths 
which, I trust, it conveys, let God be glorified. 

* '* Forgiveness, Life, and Glor^^," and " The Shadow and the 
Sub&tance." Nisbet & Co. 



HEAVENLY PLACES. 11 

The following pages do not expound the opening 
scenes of the Book of Joshua in the exact order in 
which they are there described. Some passages in 
the first chapter, referring to the personal energy 
of faith, by which the land could alone be pos- 
sessed,* and the sure blessing which should follow 
a close study of and adherence to the law of Moses, f 
are, together with the deeply interesting history of 
Eahab, postponed to a later volume, which I trust 
to be able to prepare. 

May God now be pleased richly to bless what has 
been written. The importance of the subject can- 
not be overrated. We have had the glorious gospel 
of the grace of God preached among us widely and 
freely; and of late years the trumpet has given 
a more certain sound than ever. " Times of re- 
freshing" have been vouchsafed, and we have seen 
through the length and breadth of our land — we 
have heard from the far-off countries and from the 
isles of the sea, that '^ the preaching of the Cross is 
the power of God." Multitudes have been led, 
through the preaching of a present, full, free gospel, 
to trust in Jesus for the remission of sins, and have 
realised that, according to the Word of God, they 
have ^^ passed from death unto life," and have been 
" translated out of the power of darkness into the 
kingdom of God's dear Son." For this unspeak- 
able blessing God be praised ! 

But have not many been practically content with 
* Chap. i. 8. . + Chap. i. 7, 8, 



12 THE LAKD OF PROMISE ; OR, 

having life, instead of having it '^ more abun- 
dantly^'''' — with mere entrance into the kingdom, in- 
stead of apprehending that " righteousness, peace, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost," which are its charac- 
teristics ? I do not mean that they profess to be 
content ; they are frequently complaining that they 
make no progress, lamenting the weakness of their 
faith, the coldness of their love, the changeableness 
of their feelings ; but they remain practically where 
they were. They are professing Christians ; but 
they are not possessing the land. They are not 
^' serving the Lord their God with joyfulness," and 
are consequently not attracting others to Christ. 
Not being, moreover, in the actual realisation and 
enjoyment of spiritual blessings, they are, so to 
speak, compelled to seek their joys in earthly 
things ; their consciences are uneasy, for they feel 
that they are coming short of the rest which is held 
out and promised to faith, and their life is a con- 
tinual contradiction. They are the king's children, 
and are " yet lean from day to day ; " and thus they 
discredit their Father's name, and the provision 
of His house. 

Now, I believe that this in great measure arises 
from the failure to apprehend their real position 
^^ in heavenly places in Christ;" they do not see 
their blessed portion in the good land, and they 
consequentlj^ seek their satisfaction elsewhere, and 
*^ walk as men." It has been well said that '^a 
Christian is not so much a man on earth looking 



HEAVENLY PLACES. 13 

up to heaven, as a man in heaven looking down on 
earth ; " and one great step towards the attainment 
of that high ideal, that heavenly life, is to know 
that in the pm^pose and sight of God I am where 
Christ is, " far above all principality, and power, 
and might, and dominion, and every name that is 
named, not only in this world, bat also in that 
which is to come," (Eph. i. 21.) The deeper the 
consciousness of this blessed position is in my soul, 
the more truly shall I be able to say — 

" I stand upon the mount of God 
With sunlight in my soul ; 
I hear the storms in vales beneath, 
I hear the thunders roll. 
^ But I am calm with Thee, my God, 
Beneath these glorious skies, 
And to the height on which I stand 
Nor storms nor clouds can rise." 

It is, therefore, of the deepest importance for 
Christian holiness — for heavenly-mindedness — for 
usefulness to others — and thus for the glory of God 
— that I should clearly see and understand the 
" hope of His calling and the exceeding greatness of 
His power." I may, to be sure, be saved without 
such an apprehension of my high calling. Salvation 
is not the consequence of knowledge, but of trust 
in Jesus* But I cannot be holy, I cannot be fully 
happy, I cannot be hearty in the service of God 
without it. I shall be but a babe, instead of grow- 
ing in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ, into a 
perfect man. 



14 THE LAND OF PROMISE, 

It is with tlie view of leading to a clearer un- 
derstanding of the blessed truths to which I have 
referred, that these pages, then, are written. That 
God may use them for that purpose I earnestly 
pray, and I trust that every Christian reader will 
join me in that prayer. 



THE DEATH OF MOSES; OR, THE 
END OF THE LAW. 

Joshua i. 2. 

"Moses my servant is dead : now therefore arise, go over tliifl 
Jordan." 

It is difficult to imagine that the death of one who 
had been such a careful leader, such a wise law- 
giver, and, above all, such a patient, loving, and 
long-suffering friend, as well as ruler, could have 
been good news to the Israelites. Yet so it was. 
As long as Moses lived they were shut out from the 
promised land ; until he died, although within a 
stone's throw of its vineyards, and olive-yards, and 
corn-fields, they must yet remain on the wilderness 
side of Jordan. He might bring the people to its 
brink; he might see the goodly land in its length 
and breadth; but he was not to cross the river, or to 
bring, the people over into the inheritance which 
God had promised them. 

Much, then, as they had reason to love him — ■ 
deeply as many of them must have loved him — long 
and sincere as was their mourning for him in the 



16 THE DEATH OF MOSES ; OR, 

plains of Moab — they must, nevertheless, have felt 
that his life hindered them from entering into 
possession of the land of blessing* ; and the actual 
announcement of his death, together with the com- 
mission to Joshua to arise and go over Jordan, must 
have called the people to exchange the spirit of 
heaviness for the garment of praise, and have told 
them that the last obstacle was removed — Moses 
was dead. 

But why did he die? And, above all, why did 
he die just then and there? Why, after relin- 
quishing the pleasures and riches of Egypt, — after 
forty years' training in the desert of Midian, — and 
after the subsequent forty weary years of the wil- 
derness journey, its toils and troubles, its hopes 
and fears, was this wonderful man not permitted 
to reap the fruit of his self-denial, his training, and 
his loving, faithful service, by leading his beloved 
Israel into the goodly land — by planting his own 
foot on the soil promised to his forefathers, and 
after which his heart so yearned. We know how 
he longed for it, how the passionate desire of his 
aged but not enfeebled heart burst forth in the cry, 
" Lord Grod, Thou hast begun to show Thy 
servant Thy greatness and Thy mighty hand ; — I 
pray Thee, let me go over and see the good land 
that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and 
Lebanon." Why then might he only behold it 
with his eyes, and then, giving over his charge to 
another, breathe his last upon its very border ? 



THE END OF THE LAW. 17 

Had he not served his Master well ? Oh, yes. We 
remember how, when the jealousy of his brother 
and sister broke out against him, his Lord took up 
the cause of him who was too meek and lowly in 
his own eyes to plead it for himself, and said in 
sudden anger, " My servant Moses is not so, who 
\^ faithful in all Mine house. . . . Wherefore, then, 
were ye not afraid to speak against My servant 
Moses ? " So faithful was he, that it is mentioned 
no less than twenty-one times that he did ^^ as the 
Lord commanded Moses." 

Why, then, must he die? Did his Lord not 
love him? Oh, yes; we cannot doubt that He 
loved him. Such visions of glory as no other 
mortal ever beheld were vouchsafed to him. Such 
close converse did his God hold with him, that it 
was said, that '^ the Lord spake unto Moses face to 
face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." Such 
honour was paid him, that he alone, of all that ever 
died, was buried by none other than his Maker's 
hand: 

" The hand of God upturned the sod, 
And laid the dead man there." 

Surely the Lord loved Moses. Did He not choose 
him, fifteen hundred years later, to be with Him in 
His brief glory on the Mount, there to speak with 
Him and Elijah of ^^ His decease which He should 
accomplish at Jerusalem ? " We cannot doubt that 
He loved him. Why, then, must he die just where 
and when he did ? 

B 



18 THE DEATH OF MOSES ; OR, 

He died for his sin at Meribah. (Num. xx.) Irri- 
tated beyond measure by the repeated murmurings 
of the Israelites, he suffered his anger to break 
out. '' They provoked his spirit, so that he spake 
unadvisedly with his lips, and it went ill with 
Moses for their sakes." God had commanded him 
to speak to the rock, and that it should give forth 
water ; and instead of doing so, he spoke angrily 
and haughtily to the people, and smote the rock 
twice. God immediately rebuked His servant, and 
Aaron, who was associated with him in this step, 
and said, " Because ye believed Me not, to sanctify 
Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore 
ye shall not bring this congregation into the land 
which I have given them." 

We might think that it was a severe punishment 
for an offence which was committed under great 
provocation, that for a momentary outburst of 
anger, a little loss of temper, and a hasty speech, 
this faithful servant, so honoured, so beloved, so 
meek, so self-denying, so truly noble, should lose 
the reward of his long years of patient service, and 
see the joy and honour of bringing his dearly-loved 
Israel into the promised land transferred to his 
own servant Joshua. It might seem so at first 
sight ; but God had higher objects in view in in- 
flicting this punishment than appear on the surface. 
The reason of His mysterious dealings with Israel, 
and with all the men of Old Testament days, whose 
lives are recorded in the Word^ is given us in the 



THE END OF THE LAW. 19 

New Testament. " These things happened unto 
them for ensamples/' (lit. types): ^^and they are 
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of 
the world are come." The men of old were typical 
characters, living parables, by which Gcd has 
manifested in a most striking manner the truths 
that He desired to teach mankind. 

What, then, is the special truth that lies con- 
cealed in this mysterious death of Moses ? Moses 
was the representative of the LAW. " The law 
was given by Moses." When our Lord was trans- 
figured, there appeared with Him the two men who 
could be most fitly said to be representatives of the 
dispensation which was then passing away, to leave 
behind the glory of the gospel of Christ — Moses 
and Elijah : " The law and the prophets " then 
gave place to Jesus. The death of this man, who, 
above all others, was perhaps a representative man, — 
his death at such a time and place, followed by the 
words, " Moses, my servant, is dead : arise, there- 
fore, go over this Jordan," was meant to teach us 
some important lesson in regard to the law. What 
is that lesson ? I gather a twofold one. First, 
that one breach of the law excludes from the pro- 
mised land ; secondly, that it is not by Moses, or 
the law, but by Joshua, or Jesus, that we can alone 
enter in. Let me ask the reader carefully to con- 
sider these •truths, for they are all-important. 

First, That one breach of the law excludes from 
the promised land. Moses was above all men 



20 THE DEATH OF MOSES ; OR, 

faithful to God. God Himself said of him, ^^ He is 
faithful in all Mine house." No one held more 
constant communion with God. No one obeyed 
Him more literally. No one walked with Him 
more closely. No one, if keeping the command- 
ments could entitle to the blessing, could produce 
a clearer title than Moses. Yet once, we are told, 
he sinned — he lost his temper, — he " spake unad- 
visedly with his lips," — a hasty word broke from 
him unguardedly, and he was shut out. What a 
striking commentary on the words, ^^ Whosoever 
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one 
point, is guilty of all!" i,e.y he is a ^'transgressor 
of the law." 

And this stands to reason ; for it is thus that 
we should argue in regard to human law. The 
moment a man breaks the law of England, he for- 
feits his liberty, his position, his character, his 
rights ; he becomes a criminal: he may have stolen 
one pound or a thousand, and his punishment will 
be proportioned to the magnitude of his crime, and 
the greater or less evil of its consequences to 
society ; but he is a law-breaker, a criminal. He 
can no longer take his place with those whose lives, 
so far as the law of the land can take cognizance 
of them, are blameless. 

And " shall mortal man be more just than God? 
Shall a man be more pure than his* Maker?" 
(Job iv. 17.) If such are the natural laws which 
human wisdom has framed for the well-being of 



THE END OF THE LAW. 21 

society, shall God take less care for the well-being 
of all the glorious company of heaven ? No ; as- 
suredly He will have fenced it round with jealous 
care. " There shall in no wise enter in anything 
that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomina- 
. tion, or maketh a lie," (Rev. xxL 27.) Do we ask 
the question, ''Who shall ascend into the hill of 
the Lord? and who shall stand in His holy place?" 
Forth from the secret chamber of the divine pre- 
sence comes the answer, " He that hath clean 
hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up 
his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." 

If the law be the way of life, that law must be 
kept to its smallest jot and tittle; no shortcomings 
can be passed over : the smallest breach invalidates 
the whole, just as a defect in one link of a chain, 
however small, destroys the strength and perfection 
of the whole chain. " If thou wilt enter into life, 
keep the. commandments," said the Lord to that 
one who asked Him, " What good thing shall I do, 
that I may have eternal life? " He was doing his 
best to meet the requirements of the law. As far 
as he knew, he had scrupulously observed its com- 
mands : " From my youth up," he said, " 1 have 
kept all these things." And yet, with all this 
apparent perfection, he yet came short. To his 
question, ''What lack I yet?" the Lord replied, 
"One thing thou lackest;" lacking that, he came 
short of all; failing, therefore, to keep the whole 
law, he was proved a transgressor of the law, and 



22 THE DEATH OF MOSES ; OR, 

liis claim to eternal life on the ground of his 
obedience was at once silenced. So far from 
having attained the righteousness of the law, he 
had broken it, and though, perhaps, but " in one 
point," was " guilty of having tran pressed the 
law" as a whole, and, as a sinner, therefore de- 
served not life, but death, the sentence of the law 
against sin. 

Here, as in the case of Moses, we see the end of the 
law. Being " weak through the flesh," i.e.^ having 
but a sinful, weak, imperfect instrument wherewith 
to work, its righteous requirements cannot be ful- 
filled by a sinner ; neither can the apparently 
blameless young ruler/^ enter into life " by keeping 
the commandments, for he lacks ^'one thing;" nor 
can Moses, the faithful and obedient servant, the 
very embodiment and personification of law, enter 
into the promised land under the covenant of 
works, for he has spoken unadvisedly with his lips. 

Then " by the law," or under the reign of Moses, 
can " no man " be '^ justified in the sight of God," 
(Gal. iii. 11 ;) for since the verdict of the omniscient 
and just God is that ''ALL have sinned, and come 
short of the glory of God," (Rom. iii. 23,) it is clear 
that every one has, in one point or another, trans- 
gressed the limits of the law, which, far more than 
the law of the Medes and Persians, demands perfect 
obedience, and that, therefore, even though he may 
have sinned but once, (though few would have the 
hardihood to say that their sins were limited to one 



THE END OF THE LAW. 23 

sin,) he has forfeited all and every claim to the 
inheritance : he is a sinner, a transgressor of the 
law ; justice is against him. 

And if justice is against him, he is, and must 
be, without hope, for the Law does not recognise 
mercy : " He that despised Moses' law died without 
mercy ^\ (Heb. x. 28.) Moses himself did not 
obtain mercy : the excuse for his sin, which he 
might fairly plead, — the great provocation he had 
received, — nothing he might urge in extenuation, 
could procure him mercy ; he must die outside the 
blessed land. His otherwise blameless life, his 
marvellous obedience, his unwavering loyalty to 
God, all availed not : his one sin shut him out. 

reader ! let these lessons enter your heart. If 
you are still striving to keep the commandments 
that you may '^ enter into life," see how forcibly 
God has shown you the great truth that ^' by the 
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His 
sight." You have sinned, you are a transgressor, 
you acknowledge it every Sunday in your prayers ; 
you often say, '^ We are all sinners." Then as a 
sinner you must be shut out. You may have 
the most plausible excuses — your education, your 
very nature, your circumstances, your position, 
your temperament, your temptations ; but excuses 
will be valueless. Your ^' mouth will be stopped," 
you will be ^'speechless," when thej^ are weighed by 
God's unerring hand. You may have the righteous- 
ness of Moses, or of Saul of Tarsus, of '^ Noah, Daniel, 



24 THE DEATH OF MOSES ; OR, 

or Job," to set against your one or your many sins ; 
it will avail you nothing. That one sin shuts you 
out ; you have hroken the law ; the sentence is 
death ; you cannot enter into life ; your chain of 
obedience may lack but one link, but it comes 
short ; you cannot enter in. The law (symbolised 
by Moses) can bring you, it may be, very near, even 
to the brink of Jordan, and within sight of the 
kingdom ; but it cannot bring you in ; it can only 
bring you to Jordan, (lit. the river oi judgment ;) 
it brings you to death; it cannot bring you into 
salvation and life. 

Now it is from failing to understand this 
foundation truth that so many come short of life 
and peace; for, in one way or another, they are 
practically seeking to be justified by works, al- 
though they are perfectly ready to acknowledge the 
fruitlessness of human righteousness, and say that 
they know that they cannot hope to be saved by 
their own works. 

There are some, for instance, who with real 
earnestness endeavour, by a diligent attendance to 
^^ religious duties," (as they are called,) a puncti- 
lious observance of forms and ceremonies, and a 
zealous performance of good works, to make their 
peace with God; and who hope that, even though 
they may fail in much, the desire to do what is 
right, and the accomplishment of it in some de- 
gree, may, through God's mercy in Clirist Jesus, 
bring them, if not into the enjoyment of pardon 



THE END OF THE LAW. 25 

here, at any rate into the kingdom of heaven here- 
afcer. There is in their minds a strange confusion 
of law and gospel, of works and faith ; they speak 
of the mercy of God through Christ, yet they seek 
to do ''the best they can" to earn or obtain 
that mercy, not perceiving that the two ways are 
utterly and totally opposed ; for ^' if by grace, 
then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no 
more grace ; but if it be of works, then is it no 
more grace, otherwise work is no more work," 
(Rom, xi. 6 ;) ^^ if the inheritance be of the 
law, it is no more of promise ; but God gave it to 
Abraham by promise," (Gal. iii. 18.) They are of 
the class of those Pharisees* of old, many of them, 
like Nicodemus and Saul, men no doubt most con- 
scientious and earnest, who sought to be justified 
by the works of the law, — by Moses. They are 
not ^^extortioners, unjust, adulterers;" they are 
^' not as other men are ;" they '^ fast twice in the 
week," it may be, and '^give tithes of all that they 
possess ;" ^' touching the righteousness which is in 
the law," they may be ^' blameless." They are 
'^ doing the best they can," and they hope eventu- 
ally to be saved. Moses did a great deal more than 
they did, but Moses did not enter into the land. 

* I do not mean to use the term Pharisee in its common modern 
acceptation of '* self-righteous hypocrites," but as describing those 
who. like many in our Lord's day, were truly conscientious earnest 
persons, *' having a zeal of God^ but not according to knowledge,'* 
anxious to please and serve Him, and to attain to righteousness, but 
seeking it by the works of the law, (Kom. x.) 



26 THE DEATH OF MOSES ; OR, 

He sinned once and was shut out. They have 
sinned much oftener, they will come short of the 
glory of God. 

Ah ! but say some who may be reading these 
pages, it is quite true that Moses was excluded 
for one sin; but then he lived under the law^ 
whereas we live under the gospel^ and that is not 
so strict in its requirements. Perfect obedience 
was demanded then ; but Christ introduced a 
milder scheme of salvation, under which the in- 
exorable demands of the law are relaxed ; and now 
if we only do the best rce can^ we may expect that 
God will be satisfied. 

Now, my dear reader, what does this idea amount 
to? Why to this: that the gospel is a kind of 
modified law ; that the sacrifices of the Mosaic law, 
that is, its ceremonial portion, are done away and 
superseded by the finished sacrifice of Christ; 
but that its moral portion, the precepts, which were 
to regulate the life and conduct, are still to be 
observed, so far as they are not essentially Jewish, 
in order to entitle a sinner to life. Then you are as 
much under the law as ever; nay, you are under a 
much stricter law. Remember how, in the Sermon 
on the Mount, (Matt, v.) our Lord explained the 
requirements of His law, and showed that whilst, 
under the Mosaic regulations, the actual commission 
of certain acts, e,g.^ murder or adultery, exposed the 
doer to penal consequences, it was the inward 
thought of the heart, and even the look of the eye, 



THE END OF THE LAW. 27 

which, in the sight of God, constitutes men trans- 
gressors. 

Now, if obedience to this new law is required, 
it is not less, but far greater ; it is not outward 
correctness of life, but inward holiness of heart. The 
moral precepts of the new dispensation exact much 
greater perfection than those of the old. If you are 
still to ^^ enter into life" by ^^ keeping the command- 
ments," your obedience must be perfect to a far 
higher and more searching law. If salvation is to 
be attained by keeping the law, whether that of 
Moses or Christ, God, who is the same God in both 
dispensations, cannot vary His requirements ; on 
the contrary. He must have perfect obedience under 
the one, no less than under the other. You must 
either keep the commandments and live, or, failing 
to keep them, you must perish. 

But there is another way in which many, who be- 
lieve that salvation is unattainable either by cere- 
monial observances or by perfection of moral conduct, 
yet practically seek to obtain entrance into life by 
Moses, or the law. They acknowledge that they are 
sinners, that, having failed all their lives long to do 
that which they ought to have done, they deserve 
judgment as transgressors ; and they perceive plainly 
that it is not by multiplication of religious duties 
or good works that they can make amends for 
their sins. They believe that by the gospel was in- 
troduced another way of salvation, suitable, not to 
keepers of the law of God, but to breakers of the 



28 THE DEATH OF MOSES ; OR, 

law, or sinners ; that Jesus died for sin, and 
that it is by faith in Him alone that they can be 
saved. But, with all this, they have not peace with 
God ; they are not in the land of rest. Between 
them and rest, between them and enjoyment, there 
still rolls the river of judgment ; they feel that 
something must be done yet to bring them into 
the land of the living. It is not ceremonies of 
religion ; they have tried those, and failed : it is 
not morality or holiness of life ; that has been 
tried, and only brought home a deeper conscious- 
ness of sinfulness and transgression. What can 
be lacking? A certain state of mind, characterised 
by true and deep repentance, downright earnest- 
ness to seek God and His glory, a determination 
to forsake all for Christ, feelings of peace and joy 
and delight in holy things. If this can only be 
attained, the love of God more realised, more love 
t^ Him experienced, greater elevation above the 
temptations, cares, and pleasures of the world 
reached, and a deeper repentance for and hatred 
of sin felt, then — then, it is thought, all will have 
been done, and salvation through Christ be appre- 
hended. 

But do you not see, dear reader, that what 
you are aiming at is as impossible as j)erfection 
under the law of Moses? You are seeking to 
make your heart, your sinful heart, holy, loving, 
heavenly, in order to attain salvation. This was the 
wav of life under the law : if only the two great 



THE END OF THE LAW. 29 

commandments in which all the law was em- 
bodied, perfect love to Grod and man, could have 
been kept, then the keeper of them would have 
entered into life. If you are seeking to realise 
certain feelings, and to reach a certain measure of 
holiness, before you can be saved, you are, to all 
intents and purposes, seeking righteousness by the 
works of the law ; it is by means of something you 
are endeavouring to do or feel, that you practically 
expect to obtain pardon, although you mix up the 
name of Christ with it. You do not understand 
the gospel: you may have a ''zeal of God, but it 
is not according to knowledge," (Rom. x. 2, 3 ;) 
you confound the law with grace ; Moses with 
Christ ; you do not perceive the meaning of the 
words '' Moses is DEAD." You are trying to 
bring him to life again, and hope by his help to 
be brought through judgment, and enjoy the pro- 
mised land. Not so ; you must '' cease from your 
own works," before you can ^^ enter into rest," 
(Heb. iv. 10,) Moses must die, or, rather, you must 
die to Moses or the law, before you can live unto 
God. The connection with the law must be broken 
by death before, under Joshua, or Jesus, you can 
possess the inheritance. 

That it is only death that severs that connection 
is clear from the apostle's words in Rom. vii. 1, 
^' The law hath dominion over a man as long as he 
livethy He then illustrates that truth by a refer- 
ence to marriage, showing that ^^ a woman which 



30 THE DEATH OF MOSES ; OR, 

hatli an husband, is bound by the law to her 
husband so long as he liveth ; but if the husband 
be dead, she is loosed from the law of her hus- 
band." The connection is such that, properly 
speaking, it can only be broken by death. ^^ But if 
her husband be dead, she is free from that law." 

Now a sinner is under the law, the holy law of 
God ; and as a sinner, he is under its penalty, that 
penalty which is death ; for having broken it, not 
only in one, but in every point, he lies under its 
sentence. Death therefore must take place before 
he can be free ; then ^Hhe servant will be free from 
his master," for the law can only have dominion 
over a man ^^ as long as he liveth." In order, then, 
^Ho redeem (or deliver) them which were under 
the law," God sent forth His Son — made under the 
law — ^' in the likeness of sinful flesh." He ^^ took 
upon Him the form of a servant, and was made 
in the likeness of men;" and then ''being found in 
fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." 

Thus He endured as man, and for man, the last 
penalty of the law. He took the sinner's place, 
became the sin-bearer — was '' made sin for us," 
and died in our stead. ^' He took part of flesh 
and blood, that through death He might destroy 
him that had the power of death, and deliver them 
who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime 
subject to bondage." Man therefore, who, in his 
head and representative, the first Adam, came under 



THE END OF THE LAW. 31 

the penalty of death, endured in the second Adam^ 
the head and representative of the family of the 
redeemed, that penalty, and thus was freed from it. 
It is of the utmost importance that the meaning 
and object of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ 
should be clearly understood as it regards our de- 
liverance from the law, for there can be no happy 
service of God as dear children until redemption 
from the curse of the law is fully realised. I do 
not say there can be no salvation : I am persuaded 
that there are vast numbers who truly trust in 
Jesus as their Saviour, and who, thus trusting, 
hax)e ^^everlasting life;" for '^ whosoever believeth 
in Him shall never perish," but who do not realise 
and enjoy the privileges to which, by such faith, 
they are entitled. 

Salvation does not depend upon the degree of 
intelligence with which we apprehend the various 
and infinite results of the sacrifice of Christ, 
but upon faith or trust in that sacrifice ; a touch 
of the hem of His garment is sufficient to stay the 
disease of sin, and to heal of its plague. 

A perception of the value and the consequences 
of that death, of its relation to the law and glory 
of God, of its bearing upon the standing and walk 
of the believer, is, however, deeply necessary if we 
are to attain this rest and joy and peace and 
power, without which the service of God is often 
but bondage. 

Now it is the death of Jesus in the sinner's stead 



32 THE DEATH OF MOSES ; OR, 

which atones for his sins as transgressions of the 
law of God, as given by Moses ; it is that death 
also which delivers the soul that trusts in Jesus 
from the dominion of the law, and from connection 
with it as a means of salvation. 

It atones for his sins, and that by virtue of the 
substitutionary nature of the sacrifice. Jesus died 
not for His own sins, for He was without sin, — 
not to propitiate God, for it was God who in His 
love gave Him up to death, — not as an example of 
self-sacrifice to stimulate men to follow Him, and 
thus to gain eternal glory, for no example, how- 
ever perfect, can be of use to those who are dead 
in sins — but as the Substitute of sinners. '^ He 
died for our sins J''' 

Jesus took our place. He was made in the 
^^ likeness of sinful flesh," and thus standing in 
our stead. He incurred all the obligations which we 
had incurred, and voluntarily rendered Himself 
responsible for their fulfilment. As Judah said 
with regard to his brother Benjamin, '^ I will be 
surety for him. Let thy servant abide instead of 
the lad," (Gen. xliii. 9 ; xliv. 33 ;) so He who 
'' sprang out of Judah " said, concerning those 
whom ^^ He is not ashamed to call brethren," ^^1 
will be surety for them; let Me abide instead of 
them." And what was the obligation of which He 
undertook the fulfilment? Where did He find us? 
In what condition? Prisoners — guilty, condemned, 
because of our transgressions under the law^ and 



THE END OF THE LAW. 33 

therefore nnder its curse. " Fast bound in misery 
and iron," in darkness and the shadow of death. The 
law had dominion over us, and the sentence of that 
law was DEATH. Before anything else could be 
done, the just sentence of that holy law must be 
undergone ; before the prison doors could be opened, 
the uttermost farthing must be paid. Jesus, then, as 
the representative of sinful flesh, died for our sins y 
and when He died, there was an end of sin, as re- 
garded its legal penalty ; and an end being made 
of sin, the crime having been expiated, the claim 
of the law upon the sinner is discharged. He is 
delivered from the laAv, being dead to it by the 
body of Christ. The connection is broken by death, 
just as the connection between husband and wife is 
broken by death. The believer, therefore— that is, 
the sinner who, through trust in Jesus, is identified 
and made one with Him — is no longer under the 
law, either in order to obtain life by obedience to 
its commandments, or to incur its condemnation by 
disobedience. He is ^^not under the law, but under 
grace." 

Learn then, reader, the blessed meaning of the 
words, ^^ Moses is dead; arise, therefore, go over 
Jordan." 

The best efforts did not obtain salvation under 
the law of Moses ; for the very best man, Moses 
himself, only reached the border of the land to die, 
and " came short." The best efforts are worthless 
under the gospel, for its message is not, " Keep the 





34 THE DEATH OF MOSES. 

commandments and live," but '' Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and thou skalt be saved.'^' 

Note. — The consideration of tlie truth conveyed in the 7th 
and 8th verses of this chapter — namely, that though the law is 
dead as to its condemning power over the believer, it is yet the 
rule of his new and risen life — is reserved for a future volume. 
I would only say here in anticipation, lest my meaning should 
be misunderstood, that although the believer is " dead to the law 
by the body of Christ,^' he is, nevertheless, " under the law to 
Christ." If "made free from the law," it is " that the righteous- 
ness of the law might be fulfilled " in Him. It is as true of 
the Church in this dispensation as it was of Israel of old, that 
^ He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with 
gladness ; and gave them the lands of the heathen ; and they 
inherited the labour of the people ; that they might observe 
His statutes, and keep Mis laivs" (Ps. cv. 43-45.) 



THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN; OR, 
ENTRANCE BY FAITH. 

Joshua iii. 11. 

** Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth 

passeth over before you into Jordan." 

We have seen that, under Moses, the Israelites were 
unable to enter into Caanan, and that it was Joshua 
who was to cause them to inherit the land ; that, in 
like manner, all who enter into the land of blessing 
must obtain that entrance, not by " the law," but 
'' by grace," — under Jesus the Saviour, not Moses 
the lawgiver. We now come to the consideration 
of the entrance itself, that is, of the manner in which 
the barrier that separated the people from the land 
of promise was passed. The barrier was Jordan ; the 
means whereby they passed it was /aitk. '^ By 
faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry 
land," and it was equally by faith that they passed 
through Jordan. 

The proceedings, as described by God to Joshua, 
were these : " The ark of the covenant of the 
God of all the earth passeth over before you into 
Jordan. . . . And it shall come to pass, as soon as 



36 THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN ; OR, 

tlie soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark 
of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in 
the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall 
be cut off from the waters that come down from 
above ; and they shall stand upon an heap," (iii. 
11-13.) ^^And it came to pass, when the people 
removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, 
and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant 
before the people; and as they that bat*e the 
ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the 
priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim 
of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks 
all the time of harvest,) that the waters which came 
down from above, stood, and rose up upon an heap, 
very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zare- 
tan : and those that came down toward the sea of 
the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off; 
and the people passed over right against Jericho. 
And the priests, that bare the ark of the covenant of 
the Lord, stood firm on dry ground in the midst of 
Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry 
ground, until all the people were passed clean over 
Jordan," (iii. 14-17.) " And the people hasted and 
passed over. And it came to pass, when all the 
people were clean passed over, that the ark of the 
Lord passed over, and the priests, in the presence 
of the people. • . . And it came to pass, when the 
priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the 
Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan, 
and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up unto 



ENTRANCE BY FAITH. 



37 



tlie dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned 
unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as 
they did before, (iv. 10, 11, 18.) 

We have here two special subjects for considera- 
tion : first, the work performed for the people , 
and, secondly, the way in which they availed them- 
selves of it. Now a little reflection upon the 
nature of the work will be sufficient to show the 
striking manner in which it typified and repre- 
sented the work of salvation, wrought out by 
our Lord Jesus Christ by His death for sinners. 
The waters of Jordan were to be divided, and 
thus rendered harmless for the people, by the 
presence in them of the ark, sustaiued by the 
priests. Now the ark was the symbol of God's 
presence among the people : it was at the mercy- 
seat, the golden covering of that ark, where the 
cherubim stretched forth their wings, that God's 
presence was specially manifested ; there was the 
Shechinah, or divine glory : " There," said the Lord, 
'' will I meet with you, and commune with you." 

The ark, composed of two materials, shittim 
wood, (or, as the Septuagint translates it, " incor- 
ruptible " wood,) and gold, contained the unbroken 
tables of stone, the law of God: and thus expres- 
sively symbolised Him who was both God and man, 
who could say, ^' Thy law is within My heart," 
and who kept that law unbroken. Like the wood, 
of earthly origin, Jesus took part of our flesh, 
but, like that incorruptible wood, '^His flesh saw no 



38 THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN ; OR, 

corruption/' (Acts ii. 31, xiii. 37.) As tlie gold 
gave to the ark of wood its strength and value, so the 
divinity of Jesus gave to His manhood power, pre- 
ciousness, and glory. We have, moreover, the express 
authority of the Word of God for thus interpreting 
the symbol of the ark ; for in Rom. iii. 25, where 
we read that " God hath set forth Christ Jesus to 
be a propitiation,^'' we find, on looking at the 
original, that the Greek word translated ^^propitia- 
tion " is the very one that is used in that Greek 
translation of the Hebrew Bible from which our 
Lord and His apostles constantly quoted to describe 
the ^^ mercy-seat." Christ, therefore, is that propitia- 
tory, that mercy-seat, that meetiug-place between 
God and sinners ; and we cannot err when we con- 
sider the ark of the covenant as the divinely- 
appointed type of Him in whom the Godhead dwelt, 
and who is thus Immanuel, or ^^ God with us." 

It was, then, the presence of this ark on the priests' 
shoulders in the midst of Jordan that rolled back 
its overflowing tide, and made the ^' depths a way 
for the ransomed of the Lord to pass over." Is the 
question asked, ^' What ailed thee, thou Jordan, 
that thou wast driven back?" The answer is, ^^ The 
presence of the Lord ; at the presence of the God of 
Jacob " (Ps. cxiv. 5, 7) those waters of the ''river 
of judgment " were driven back ; the presence of 
tlie Lord sustained their accumulated weight, and 
not one drop thereof could touch an Israelite. 
*' They went througli the flood on foot." 



ENTRANCE BY FAITH. 39 

How beautiful and expressive a type is here pre- 
sented to US of the work which the Lord Jesus Christ 
has performed for us, and of the way in which a 
path has been opened for us by Him into the land 
of blessing and of rest ! 

It was the ark — that ark that had so often been 
sprinkled with the blood of atonement year by year, 
which, borne upon the shoulders of the pries ts, drove 
back those waters of death and judgment. And 
how was it that death and judgment have been 
abolished, and the way opened for us into the 
presence of God, but by the fact that Jesus, the 
Son of God, the great High Priest, took His 
place there, where the great stream of God's 
eternal judgment rolled in all its tremendous and 
overwhelming weight — where death, that death 
which was the due reward and penalty of sin, was 
inflicted ! Then the mighty waters of judgment 
found a barrier, — then " death " was " abolished, 
and life and immortality were brought to light," — 
then was opened, through the very gates of death, 
a way for the ransomed of the Lord to pass over. 
Other priests, those which had infirmity, could 
only once a year, with blood of others, make their 
way through the thick veil into the presence of 
God. Jesus has opened the new and living way 
once for all. 

It was as '' the feet of the priests that bare the 
ark were dipped in the brim of the water that the 
wMers stood." Those waters only touched their 



40 THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN ; OR, 

feet. And similarly, in accordance with the prime- 
val promise, it was but the " heel " of the " Seed of 
ihe woman " that was bruised. How short the vic- 
tory that death achieved over Him ! Three days 
and three nights only in the grave; enough to 
prove His actual death, no more. " The pains of 
death were loosed, because it was not possible that 
He could be holden of it." Satan, who had the power 
of death, might scheme and plan. His willing 
agents might ^^make the sepulchre sure, sealing the 
stone and setting a watch," but — 

" Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, 
Christ hath burst the gates of hell ; 
Death in vain forbids His rise, 
Christ hath opened Paradise." 

He must rise " the third day according to the 
Scriptures." It was but the heel that was bruised; 
when that royal, holy High Priest and Saviour 
touched the waters of judgment, they were driven 
back ; and though He died in them, through death 
He destroyed death. 

Other types of Scripture present the suffering 
aspect of that wondrous death. The flood, for in- 
stance, shows us the overwhelming judgment on sin 
which, overtaking Him who, ^^ntlie likeness of sinful 
flesh," ^'died for our sins," caused Him to exclaim, 
" Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, 
ifi the deeps : Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and 
Thou hast afilicted me with all Thy waves." Tht 



?i 



ENTRANCE BY FAITH. 41 

scene before us exhibits rather the conquering as- 
pect of the death of Christ. Both sides are true; 
but it needed many and various shadows to give the 
true form and character of the substance ; for He 
who sank under the weight of that judgment which 
" would have sunk a world to hell/' is the same 
who was able to take again the life which He had 
laid down, and, as the Resurrection, declare that 
death was abolished for His people for ever. 

And as the ark alone completely and effectually 
accomplished the object for which it went down into 
Jordan's stream, so Jesus alone by His one offering, 
once offered, completely satisfied the law of God, 
vindicated His majesty, and obtained eternal re- 
demption for us. " Of the people there was none 
with Me." " His arm brought salvation : His 
righteousness it sustained Him." Who was there 
of the sons of men that could share with Jesus the 
penalty of death for sin ? Who could or did help 
Him to bear that fearful weight of judgment ? He 
was alone in it from the beginning to the end, 
and exclaimed at its close, " I have finished the 
work Thou gavest Me to do." Was not this pre- 
figured in the distance which was placed between 
the ark and the people ? — " Yet there shall be a space 
between you and it ; come not near to it." It must 
be made manifest that no Israelite had any hand or 
share in the marvellous work of driving back the 
flood. Had there been no such space ; had the 
peoj^le thronged around the ark, they might naturally 



42 THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN ; OR, 

have been inclined to think that it was before them 
that Jordan fled, that they, from their numbers, their 
renown, or their valour, had something to do with 
the miracle. But the two thousand cubits between 
the ark and them would eifectually silence any such 
presumptuous claim. ^'Boasting" would be ^^ ex- 
cluded." And does not the death of Jesus on the 
cross stand as the alone cause of salvation ? There 
was no death like that, no sorrows like His who 
endured it. He was the only one who could bear 
the sins of others, suffer the penalty, put away sin, 
and bring in an everlasting righteousness. He 
must save, and He ALONE. 

And now let us notice the manner in which the 
people availed themselves of the work wrought out 
for them by the ark of God. It was by faith. 
They trusted entirely to the ark ; believing that the 
power of God thus manifested was sufficient to 
restrain the waters, which otherwise would have 
swept them away, they confidently descended into 
the bed of the river, and quietly passed over. They 
ventured their lives, their families, their substance, 
everything on the ark of God ; if that failed, they 
must be destroyed ; but if God kept His word, if 
His power was enough, then they were safe. And 
their confidence was not misplaced. It was on no 
sandy foundation they built their hopes, — it was on 
the work and word of God ; and believing in Him, 
they were not confounded: ''AH the Israelites passed 
over on dry ground ;" not a drop of those waters of 



ENTRANCE BY FAITH. 43 

Judgment touched them ; for all that they felt, there 
might have been no river there. 

Oh, how striking a picture of the rcay of faith ! 
"What a simple way it is ! It needs no earthly wisdom 
to apprehend it : the most ignorant of the children 
of Israel could perceive it as well as the most learned ; 
the little child holding its father's hand could avail 
himself of it as easily as the mightiest warrior in 
the host; and the mighty warrior, whether Caleb or 
Joshua, must take the same way as the little child 
that could hardly walk. There could be no differ- 
ence, there was only one way ; men, women, and 
children, old and young, rich and poor, learned or 
ignorant, strong or weak, all must come, and all did 
come, by that one simple way. And what does Jesus 
say ? '^ I am the Way : no man cometh unto the 
Father but hy il/^." You must trust in Jesus ; 
trust in His death ; believe that He has opened the 
way to God, and that, just as you are, whatever your 
character, antecedents, present circumstances, age, 
class, or creed, you may avail yourself of it. 
'^ There is no difference, for all have sinned." 
There are no works necessary, for He said, ^' It is 
finished." None are excluded that come; for He 
says, ^'Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise 
cast out." All that is needed is that you should 
trust in Him; put your confidence in His work 
and word, and go forward — 

** Venture on Him, venture wholly ; 
Let nu other trust intrude.'* 



44 THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN ; OR, 

Thus trustingj j^ou pass safely over, for ^^.here 
is no condemnation to them which are in Christ 
Jesus." The soul that trusts in Him '^ shall never 
come in CO condemnation." ^' He that believeth. in 
Him hath EVERLASTING LIFE, and shall never 
perish." Such an one can say, with triumph and 
with truth — 

*' There is no condemnation, there is no hell for me; 
The fire and the torment my eyes shall never see ; 
For me there is no sentence, for me death hath no sting; 
Because the Lord who loves me shall shield me with His 
wing." 

Dear reader ! can you say that you do trust in 
Jesus ? I do not ask if you believe that there is a 
Saviour, and that Jesus is that Saviour. It is one 
thing to helieve that Christ died for sinners, and 
another to trust yourself, your soul, your past and 
your future, entirely to Him. An Israelite might 
have seen and acknowledged the way, and yet, not 
trusting in it for himself, have been shut out from the 
land. Thedevils believe, but they cannot ^rz^^i. Salva- 
tion is not connected with belief in certain facts con- 
cerning Christ, but with trust in Christ. ^' Believe 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 

There was onhj one vray, and that way was by 
trusting to the ark of God. An Israelite might 
have imagined that he could cross the stream better 
by constructing a bridge or building a boat; but that 
would not have been God's way, and it would not 
have been the way of faith. Let us supjiose foi a 



ENTRANCE BY FAITH. 45 

moment that one of the Israelites had set to work, 
with all the skill and energy he possessed, to make 
a bridge over the river. He might have collected 
the strongest stones, and having fitted them with 
the utmost nicety, have succeeded in construct 
ing a way which, to his own and to his neigh- 
bours' eyes, seemed fair and safe ; but I doubt 
whether it would have carried him over; for he 
would all the time have been rejecting and despising 
the way which God had devised and contrived for 
him; and such a despiser would never have reached 
the land into which God only brought those who 
trusted in His salvation. How foolish, moreover, as 
well as proud and self-confident, would any Israelite 
have been, who, instead of availing himself of that 
safe and prepared highway, had attempted to make 
another, and, as he would have thought, a better 
way for himself ! He never could have accomplished 
it ; he would not have had time enough ; for while 
he would have been busy about his plans and works, 
the others would all have passed over, the ark would 
have left the place in the middle of the river, and 
the mighty, rapid waters would have again over- 
flowed their banks, and have excluded him from that 
good land. He would have ^^ come short " of the 
rest of God. If any one had adopted such a course, 
he would have proved himself to be both unbelieving 
and presumptuous ; — unbelieving, because he did not 
trust the way which God had opened for him ; pre- 
sumptuous, because he judged that the way which 



46 THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN; OR, 

his own mind had planned, and his own hands con- 
structed, was abetter and safer way than that which 
God had devised and completed. 

We do not read that such a piece of presumptuous 
and self-confident follj^ was perpetrated by a single 
Israelite ; for the type we are considering is a type 
of the people of God, of those who by faith enter 
into His rest. But when we turn to present days, 
and regard the conduct of those who profess and 
call themselves Christians, who declare that they 
hope to go to heaven ; what do we find ? Alas ! 
we see many and many an one who, though acknow- 
ledging that Christ is the way, yet attempts to 
climb up some other way, and who practically hopes 
that he will eventually escape the weight of God's 
judgment by something else that he is endeavour- 
ing to perform. Such an one is building a bridge 
over Jordan. Let me describe to you the opera- 
tion, as it is commonly performed, and you may, 
perhaps, be enabled to recognise yourself as the 
performer. 

The bridge which such an one endeavours to 
build is composed of many beautiful and appar- 
ently trustworthy stones. They are hewn with 
diligence, polished with care, set in their places 
with regularity, and regarded with much satisfac- 
tion. They have many names, and may vary in 
the order in which they come, according to the 
taste and ideas of the builder; but persons avail 
themselves generally of the same quarry, and the 



ENTRANCE BY FAITH. 47 

bridges which they build have a great likeness to 
each other. 

The first stone which is laid by them is fre^ 
quently called " Turning over a new leaf^' and it 
is supposed that this affords a pretty fair founda- 
tion; indeed, few like to begin without it. The 
next goes by the name of '^ Leaving off old habits''* 
Then follow in succession, '^ Attention to reli- 
gious duties^'* — ''Not doing anybody any harm^^'' — • 
''Doing as we would be done by^'''' — " Uprightness 
in worldly matters^'''' — "Kindness to the poor^'' — 
"Morality^'' — " Amiability ^^^ — "Attendance at the 
Lord's Supper^'' — "Prayers^'' — "Fastings^'' and 
many others of a similar character. No two bridges 
are exactly alike ; that is, the stones of which they 
are composed vary somewhat in their order and in 
their character : but they are alike in two points. 
First, they all have the same keystone. It occu- 
pies the most important place in everybody's plan, 
and is the part of the bridge on which all rely, to a 
greater or less extent, for its stability and efficiency. 
This stone is called " Doing the best L can''' It is 
in great demand, and is invariably made use of by 
rich and poor, and a great many lay claim to its 
possession when they have it not; in fact, no 
bridge was ever built without it, or without the 
imitation of it, and the most implicit confidence is 
placed in it. Men in all ages have made use of 
it. Cain, Saul of Tarsus, — in fact, all who trusted 
in their own works, and went about to establish 



48 

their own righteousness ; and in these days it is 
equally prominent in the schemes of salvation of 
all who have not learnt that the best they can 
do is but bad. It is remarkable how, when every 
other prop is taken away, this is clung to with the 
strongest pertinacity; and how continually it is the 
case that when, one by one, a sinner has been 
shown that his foncied merits are but sins, he in- 
variably falls back upon this, and endeavours to 
settle the matter, by saying, ^'Well, at any rate, I 
am doing the best 1 can^ and no one can do more 
than that." Oh, how seldom is it perceived that 
no one could enter the good land by doing anything I 
It was by trusting, not trying^ that entrance waa 
to be obtained ; it is not the best we can do, but 
the work that God has done for us, that opens to 
us the way of life; salvation is not by works, or 
doings, but by faith ; for ^' he that is entered into 
his rest hath ceased from his own worhs^ 

The other point of resemblance in all human 
schemes of salvation or bridges into the good land, 
is this :- — that Christ occupies a certain place in 
them, that is, with all who profess themselves 
Christians ; for it is felt by such that He must 
have some part in the work of their salvation. 
After much labour in bringing as near to perfec- 
tion as possible the various '^ good works " of 
which their bridge is composed, it is acknowledged 
that they are after all not quite what they ought to 
be, and that something is still lacking to make the 



ENTRANCE BY FAITH. 49 

s^^av of their salvation tliorougbly trustworthy; just as 
any one who was endeavouring' to cross the Jordan 
by the work of his own hands would perceive that 
the stones which he had laboriously collected and 
placed in their order yet needed something to bind 
them together to give the whole a certain consis- 
tency, and, in fact, to make his bridge perfect. 
Wherever, therefore, there might be any interstice 
or vacant space, he would have inserted some 
material like mortar to fill up such spaces, to 
smooth over irregularities, and to unite fii^mly the 
otherwise disjointed structure. 

Thus it is with those who, hard at work to " do 
the best they can " to " get to heaven," yet feel 
conscious that they are not quite what they ought 
to be — that there has been many a thing left un- 
done which ought to have been done, and that, 
somehow or other, the Lord Jesus Christ does not 
occupy so prominent a place in their scheme as He 
ought. Wherever, therefore, they perceive that they 
have come short, the " merits of Jesus Christ " are 
employed to supply the deficiency, to smooth over 
irregularities, and to give to their imperfect works 
the finishing touch which will confer that perfection 
which God requbes ; and thus, what with their 
own efforts and the merits of Christ, they hope 
that, after all, Grod will be merciful to them, and 
take them to heaven when they die. 

Is this the case of one who may be reading the-^e 
pages? You cannot be saved. Christ, and Christ 

D 



50 THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN ; OR, 

only, must be the AYay ; and if you are mixing up 
anything of your own, however estimable and fair 
it may appear, you are not trusting entirely and 
simply to Him, and you cannot be saved. It may 
be that you cannot understand how such " good 
works " as I have referred to can be excluded from 
the plan of salvation, when so much is said about 
them in the Bible. True, a great deal is said 
about them, and they have their place, and will be 
found in the life of every real Christian ; but he 
must be a Christian, that is, saved ; he must be in 
the land of blessing before he can begin to build 
the structure of a holy life. An Israelite might 
build and work as much as possible when once over 
Jordan, but his building and working would never 
help him over. It is '^having escaped" that we 
are to ^^ add to our faith, virtue; and to virtue, 
knowledge ; and to knowledge, temperance ; and 
to temperance, patience ; and to patience, godli- 
ness ; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and^to 
brotherly kindness, charity," (2 Peter i. 5-7.) We 
shall see presently, as we continue the consideration 
of the successive incidents related in the Book of 
Joshua, how the place in which the life of holiness 
is to be, and can be alone manifested, is there 
where the soul is conscious of having left behind 
the waters of judgment, and of having ^* passed 
from death unto life." 

That which now concerns you is not the way in 
which you are to behave for the future, but the way 



KNTRANCE BY FAITH, 51 

by wlncli you must enter into life. Again, I say, 
that Way is Jesus ; and let me beseech you, as you 
read these lines, to make use of Him as the WAY 
to God. Remember that '^ the time is short;" as 
it was with the Israelites, that the moment the last 
among them had crossed the stream, then the ark 
of the Lord passed over : ^^ And it came to pass, 
when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant 
of the Lord were come up out of the midst of 
Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were 
lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of 
Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over 
all his banks, as they -did before," (Josh. iv. 18.) 
The waters of judgment again rushed furiously 
down, and an impassable barrier was placed between 
any that might have delayed too long and the land 
of rest. 

None did thus delay ; for as the type figures the 
passage of the people of God through judgment 
into rest, so it is evident that none could be 
excluded. But it was only those who trusted in 
that way of salvation to whom it availed; and 
v/hen once the last Israelite was ^^ clean passed 
over," the time was gone. So it will be, and, alas ! 
so it is often now. While you live your day of grace 
lasts, and till the Lord comes the day of grace for 
the word lasts ; but that day has its night. The 
judgment which God has threatened against an 
ungodly world ^^ slumbereth not." In His long- 
suiFering, not willing that any should perish, the day 



52 THE PASSAGE OF JORDAN ; OR^ 

of grace and salvation is lengthened out; but when 
once the house is filled, the fated hour come, then 
will that long-restrained flood of judgment be 
poured forth, and He will ^' judge the world in 
righteousness.'* 

Numbers, alas ! imagine that that day will never 
come for them, and because it is delayed, delay to 
turn to God ; they fancy there will be time enough 
for them at the last moment to avail themselves 
of the way of salvation, and they linger on in fool- 
hardy confidence, and sleep on, only to wake up when 
it is too late, and to find that " the door is shut." 

A great ship, the Central Amei^ica^ I have heard, 
was once crossing the Atlantic ; she had sprung a 
leak, and was in great danger, but the captain, who 
had weathered many a storm in her, trusted in her 
sea-going qualities, and believed she would last out 
to the end, and could not abandon his ship. An- 
other vessel, perceiving her dangerous and sinking 
condition, drew near, and its captain, anxious to 
save the passengers and crew, shouted through his 
speaking-trumpet, ^^ Shall I send the boats?" 
'' Time enough yet," was the reply. A few hours 
later the offer was renewed, but again the hoarse 
tones of the trumpet wafted across the waves, 
" Time enough j^et." Once again, as the shades 
of night drew on, the commander, unwilling to 
abandon the neighbourhood of the distressed ship, 
and seeing her gradually settling lower in the 
water, shouted imploringly, '* Let me send the 



ENTRANCE BY FAITH. 53 

boats for the women and children.'* But, again, 
and for tlie last time, tlie captain of the Central 
America^ clinging to his confidence, and hoping 
that, after all, his ship might outlive the storm, 
answered, ^^ Time enough yet.'''' Darkness came on, 
the hours of that fearful night rolled past, and 
when the light of another day fell on the waters, it 
revealed but one ship, where two had been before. 
The Central America had sunk with every soul on 
board, the victim of procrastination and misplaced 
confidence. 

Thus perish thousands. A Saviour is near ; He 
calls again and again ; the way of salvation is open ; 
it needs but they should trust in Him who is that 
Way : but they delay, they hope for the best, they 
cannot believe that things will turn out badly, and 
they perish through nnbelief. 

Eeader ! ^^ Trust in the Lord Jesus Christy and 
thou Shalt be saved." TEUST NOW. 



TWELVE STONES; OR, BURIED 
WITH CHRIST. 

Joshua iv. 9. 

* And Josb.ua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the 
place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the 
covenant stood : and they are there unto this day." 

^' They are there unto this day.'^'* There they are, 
out of sight ; they have never been seen again. 
The waters of Jordan, which returned unto their 
place, and buried those stones, still roll ceaselessly 
over them. Down in the midst of the river, in the 
deepest part, where the priests stood, still lie those 
stones. You might search for them, but you could 
not find them. They are hidden for ever. 

^^ What mean these stones?" What may we 
learn from them ? Do they not speak? Are they 
not ^^ stones crying out?" Their mystic number, 
their remarkable resting-place, their buried exist- 
ence — what does it all teach? Was it a mere 
superstitious, idle ceremony on Joshua's part? 
Was it not rather another of those parables in 



TWELVE STONES. 55 

deeds which happened to the Israelites for ^^en- 
samples," and '^are written for our admonition." 
God has thought fit to include this incident among 
the things that " were written aforetime ; " we may 
he therefore sure that it is " written for our learning, 
that we, tlirough patience and comfort of the Scrip- 
tores, might have hope." May He, then, who wrote 
it graciously enable me to gather up and set before 
you some of the lessons which it is, I believe, 
designed to teach ! and may He enable each reader 
of these pages to apprehend and lay these lessons 
to heart. 

It is evident, I think, that the twelve stones were 
meant to represent the twelve tribes. A reference 
to the 2d, 3d, and 5th verses of the chapter will at 
once manifest this. It is there related how another 
set of twelve stones, taken " out of the midst of 
Jordan, out of the place where the feet of the 
priests stood firm," were to be carried over into the 
promised land, and erected in Gilgal ; and of these 
it was said, in the 5th verse, that they were to be 
^' according to the number of the tribes of the 
children of Israel." 

The twelve precious stones, moreover, which were 
set in the breastplate of the high priest, being 
engraten with the names of the children of Israel, 
"twelve, according to their names, according to the 
twelve tribes," (Exod. xxviii. 21;) and the twelve 
gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, with " names writ- 
ten thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes 



56 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

of the cliildren of Israel," alike malve it manifest 
that the stones buried in Jordan were intended to 
represent the whole assembly of the people of God. 

But why were they to be laid there ? What story 
could they tell in the bed of Jordan ? We can 
easily see that the other twelve stones erected in 
Gilgal were to be a memorial of the power of 
God, as manifested in bringing Israel through the 
Jordan. They were visible, conspicuous tokens ; 
and men, seeing them in time to come, were to ask, 
^^What mean ye by these stones?" But these 
were to be unseen ; no eye was henceforth to rest on 
them ; they were to attract no attention ; deep in 
the midst of Jordan, far from the light of day, their 
very existence being out of sight, they would be out 
of mind. Why were they laid there ? 

A deep and blessed truth lies where these stones 
lie. Though out of sight, they speak to us. Nay, 
it is in the very fact that they are out of sight that 
the lesson consists ; it is their complete oblitera- 
tion from view that tells us, in the language of 
parable, one of the most important truths concern- 
ing the family of God that the Scriptures contain. 

The children of Israel had been now forty years 
in the wilderness, and those forty years had, so far 
as they were concerned, only served to manifest 
their innate sinfulness, their obstinacy, discontent, 
ingratitude, and self-will. They did, indeed, ^' prove " 
them, and bring out " what was in their heart," 
(Deut. viii. 2 ;) and in recording their history 



BURIED WITH CHRIST. 67 

during that time, God could only say, " Forty years 
long was I grieved with this generation. It is a 
people that do err in their hearts. They have not 
known my ways," (Ps. xcv. 10.) Notwithstanding 
a succession of unparalleled miracles, their supplies 
of food, their shelter, their clothing, being all 
miraculously provided ; notwithstanding the terrors 
of the law on Mount Sinai, ^' God speaking to 
them out of the midst of the fire ; " notwithstand- 
ing judgments and mercies, they remained a rebel- 
lious nation, unworthy of any blessing, and only 
ripe for destruction. 

But God was going to bring them into the good 
land of rest and promise : for His own name's sake 
He was about to fulfil the promises made to Abra- 
ham, and to remember His mercy and truth. If 
He dealt with them on the ground of what they 
had been doin^ the past forty years, He must have 
excluded the whole nation from Canaan. But the 
land was a gift '^ by promise," and, as we have 
seen, no amount of obedience to the law could 
entitle them to possess it; if their claim to it 
depended on their own righteousness, not only 
must the carcases of those who had sinned so long 
ago (Num. xiv.) fall in the wilderness, but their 
children also, who now were on the borders of the 
land of rest, must come short of its enjoyment. 

No ; they were coming into a new country, and 
before they could apprehend and make it their own, 
it must be strikingly manifested that ^' old things 



58 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

had passed away, and that all things had become 
new." 

The twelve tribes, the whole people, every one of 
them, must not only descend into tlie waters of 
judgment, but they must remain there; they must 
be buried there ; and thence, as symbolised by the 
twelve stones brought out of Jordan, they were to 
emerge a new people, " born out of water," — their 
birth-place, the very place of death and judgment, 
• — to be a token and witness to succeeding genera- 
tions and surrounding peoples of the grace and 
power of God. 

In the hiyiiig of those twelve stones in the midst of 
Jordan was, therefore, strikingly represented the 
obliteration, by death and burial, of the past history 
of the tribes, of the very tribes themselves. They 
were to be ^'forgotten" as ^^dead" men ^^ out of 
mind," (Ps. xxxi. 12.) But not only to the tribes 
of Israel did this apply ; as the people of God, 
they were types of His people in successive ages ; 
that which happened to them happened for en- 
samples; and we see in the remarkable conduct of 
Joshua with regard to the twelve stones an illus- 
tration of a truth relating to the children of God, 
the importance of which cannot be overrated — 
namely, that, as those who are united to Christ by 
faith, they are regarded by God as having been 
buried with Him, and tliat, having been thus 
buried, their past history, and not only that, but 
they themselves, as men in the flesh, and smners 



BURIED WITH CHRIST, 69 

exposed to judgment, have been put out of sight, 
lost sight of. 

" Buried 7vith Christ,'''^ Such is the teaching of 
this interesting type. Where the ark, upborne on 
the priestly shoulders, had for a brief time rested, 
there, in the very place of their feet, in the midst 
of the river of judgment, lay the twelve stones. 
The believer died with Christ. He says, " I am 
(lit. " was ") crucified with Christ,'' (Gal. ii. 20.) 
When He, the Head, underwent the sentence of the 
law against sin, the members, all who ever have 
been or shall be joined to Him as members of His 
body, underwent it in Him. As ^^ in Adam all 
died," and thus every member of Adam's family 
died, when he, the head of that family, died ; so in 
Christ, all who are members of His family died 
when He died. 

He bore the weight of those waters of judgment 
for them ; they bore it in Him ; He died under it ; 
in Him they died under it ; the sentence of the law 
was inflicted, and its demand, death, exhausted by 
the Head for the body ; and, in the sight of Grod, 
to whom all future is present, and '' who calleth 
the things that be not as though they were," the 
sentence was inflicted on every one who is or shall 
be " partaker of Christ.'' 

And as they died with Him, so they were buried 
with Him. What is burial ? It is putting out of 
sight that which we could not bear to keep before 
us. " Let me bury my dead out of my sight," said 



60 TWELVE STONES ; OR 

Abram even of Sarah, whom he had loved. How 
wonderful, how marvellous beyond all imagination 
does the burial of Jesus appear! Why was the 
" Prince of Life " laid in the grave ? Why was it 
needful for Him to exclaim, " Thou hast laid Me in 
the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps ?" Why 
did He descend into " the dark," into " the land of 
forgetfulness ?" Why did He say, " I am forgotten, 
as a dead man, out of mind ?" The only answer is, 
that ^^the Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquities 
of us all." " He bare our sins in His own body on 
the tree;" and, as the scapegoat, bearing " all the 
iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their 
transgressions, and all their sins," was sent away 
into -the wilderness, " wherein dwelleth no man," 
and where those iniquities were, therefore, no more 
to be seen ; so Jesus, dying for and in our sins, 
was buried, not only as the proof of death, but as 
taking away those sins into " the land of forgetful- 
ness," and putting them out of God's sight. " He 
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." He left 
our sins in that grave ; He rose without them. 
The waters rolled over them, and, like the twelve 
stones under the waters of Jordan, " there they are 
unto this day." " The sin of Judah shall be sought 
for, and not be found." God hath said, " Their 
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more^ 

Reader! do you apprehend this? Do you see and 
understand that if you have put your trust in Jesus, 
as the Israelites trusted in the ark of the covenant; 



BURIED WITH CHRIST. 61 

your past history, with all its sins, is as thoroughly 
put out of God's sight as those stones were hidden 
in Jordan ? It is impossible to find stronger 
lano:uao:e than that which God has used to describe 
the complete removal of guilt from those who are 
in Christ. " Cast into the depths of the sea.' 
" Blotted out as a thick cloud." " Cast behind 
His back." " Removed from us as far as the east 
is from the west." Such are the terms in which 
the God of all grace, who " forgiveth iniquity, 
transgression, and pin," describes the effect of that 
sacrifice by which Jesus, the Lamb of God, " put 
away sin." Our sins are forgiven us for His 
name's sake, and not only forgicen. but forgotten, 
" There is, therefore, now no condemnation to 
them that are in Christ Jesus." '^ Thanks be 
unto God for His unspeakable gift !" 

But a deeper truth than the obliteration of our 
sin« is conveyed by the burial of these twelve 
stones. Although we may take the circumstance 
as an illustration of the fact that the transgres- 
sions of those who trust in Jesus are fully and 
everlastingly blotted out by God, the type has a 
more accurate application to the persons of believers. 
The stones symbolised the tribes themselves. It 
was not only their sins, but they themselves, who 
were represented as dead and buried, and then as 
raised from the dead. 

And such is the teaching of the Word of God 
concerning those who are in Christ : " We were 



152 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

buried with Him by baptism into deatb," Baptism, 
ill which the believer is first put under tlie water, 
buried, and then raised up out of it, is the ap- 
pointed figure to denote the '^ end of all flesh," the 
obliteration of the '^ old man," and the resur- 
rection of the ^' new man/' the ^^ new creation " in 
Christ. 

It is said to be a ^^form" (lit. '^ a type") 
of doctrine, (Rom. vi. 17.) The doctrine of which 
^'t is the form is that of union with Christ in His 
death, burial, and resurt-ection. ^' AVe have been 
planted together in the likeness of His deatli^'' as 
those whose ^' old man was crucified with Him," 
(Rom. vi. 5, 6.) ^^ Buried with Him in baptism," 
(Col. ii. 12.) There is therefore an end of me as a 
sinner before God ; I am dead and buried, put out 
of sight. Christ's death and burial are mine by 
faith. 

Wliat an important lesson this teaches us of the 
utter corruption and unprofitableness of the flesh ! 
AVlien God looked upon the antediluvian world, 
which was filled with violence, we read that '^ the 
earth was corrupt before God," '^ for all flesh had 
corrupted its way upon the earth." He therefore 
said, '' The end of all flesh is come before Me," 
and He declared His determination to kill and bury 
it. Accordingly He did so; He brought ^' a flood 
of waters upon the earth to destroy it," ^' and all 
flesh died," '' and the waters prevailed, and all the 
high hills that were under the whole heaven were 



BURIED WITH CHRIST. 63 

covered^ God had buried the old creation. There 
was uothing else to be done with that which was 
thoroughly corrupt ; it could not be improved or 
amended ; there was nothing left for it but that it 
should be buried, put out of sight. Of this, St Peter 
tells us, baptism is the antitype, (1 Pet. iii. 21.) It is 
the symbol of the burial of the old nature, as of that 
which is irretrievably bad. The very same word 
is used with regard to the ^^ old man," that is, the 
unrenewed self, that God used regarding the old 
world. It is said to be '^ corrupt according to the 
deceitful lusts," (Eph. iv.,) and as such is incapable 
of being restored or improved. 

This solemn truth declares the hopelessness of 
all the attempts which are so often made under an 
awakened conscience to improve and amend one's 
self. It is not the improvement of self, of the old 
man, which can fit us for God's presence; it is the 
implantation of a new life, the ^' putting on " of 
' ' the new man," " Who can bring a clean thing out 
of an unclean?" God's verdict is that we are so 
^^desperately wicked," so entirely ^^ corrupt," so 
hopelessly ^^ dead in sins," that there is nothing but 
execution and burial for us. When Jesus, therefore, 
in His grace took our place. He underwent the 
sentence ^4n the likeness of sinful flesh;" He ''died 
for our sins and was buried." There was ^' the end 
of all flesh" manifested; and our baptism is the 
expression or symbol of union with Christ in that 
burial. It is the acknowledgment on our part 



64 TWELVE STONES ; OR 

that in us, that is, in our flesh, dwelleth no good 
thing, and that God's sentence upon us as sinners 
is just. 

Do you acknowledge this, let me ask the reader 
of these pages ? Or are you endeavouring by a 
series of religious efforts so to amend your ways 
and improve yourself as ultimatelj^ to have a good 
hope of God's mercy? If the Latter is your case, 
you are endeavouring to dress up a corpse and fit it 
for the company of the living ; you are attempting 
to make that life decent, religious, and respectable 
which God has declared to be corrupt, abominable, 
and only fit for the grave. You are trying to 
establish vour own rii>ht6ousness, when God has 
said that '^ all our righteousnesses are as filtliy 
rags." Will the cloak of religious profession hide 
those rags from the all-searching eye of God? 
Granted that you are, and believe yourself to be, 
honest, sincere, and earnest; God knows you in- 
finitely better than you know yourself, (for you 
only know what your own heart tells you, and that 
heart is " deceitful above all things,") and He says 
that 3^ou are " unclean " and '' dead." 

How, then, can I be saved ? you say. How! why, 
by Christ ; not by getting better and better, but 
by acknowledging that you are bad, and receiving 
Christ as your righteousness and your life; by 
ceasing from your own works, and trusting in His 
work. '' Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and 
thou shalt be saved." 



BURIED WITH CHRIST. 65 

We get, however, a further lesson from the siiL- 
ject under consideration. We learn not merely 
that the old nature is corrupt, dead, and only fit for 
burial ; — that it is consequently hopeless to mend 
or improve it ; — that all its efforts are therefore 
" dead works," and valueless towards salvation ; 
but further, that we are to consider the old nature 
as a thing with which we have done, just as we 
have done with that which is dead and buried. 

This is the aspect in which we are told that God 
looks at those who are in Christ : ^* If any man be 
in Christ, he is a new creature," (lit. there is a new 
creation :) ^^ old things have passed away; behold, all 
things are become new." God sees such no longer as 
what they reeve in themselves^ but as what they are 
in Christ. "' Ye are not in the flesh," says the 
apostle, " but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit 
of God dwell in you." In God's sight, " the flesh," 
i,e,^ the sinful nature, died with Christ. " Our old 
man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin 
might be destroyed." Our old condition, therefore, 
is reckoned to have " passed away," and we are 
said to " have put off the old man with his deeds; " 
for "i\iQj that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, 
with its affections and lusts." 

There is therefore an end of our old sinful nature 
before God. It was judged, condemned, and exe- 
cuted when Jesus, ^^in the likeness of sinful flesh," 
died for us : for " if one died for all, then have 
all died;" Le.^ we died in and with Him. This 

E 



66 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

does not imply that God is blind to our daily trans- 
gressions, our failures, our sins. No ; we know that 
He sees them, and we experience that, as a Father j 
He chastens us in respect of them. But as a Judge^ 
He sees them not ; judicially, they have been put 
away, and we are regarded by Him as dead and 
buried sinners. 

We are, therefore, to look at ourselves as 
God looks at us. He reckons us to have died with 
Christ ; and we are therefore to '^ reckon ourselves to 
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, in 
Jesus Christ our Lord." And herein lies a mighty 
principle of holiness. It is just in proportion as 
we reckon ourselves dead unto sin, that sin will 
have no power over us. What has a dead man to 
do with sin ? What has a dead man to do with 
his former occupations, habits, tastes ? Nothing ! 
absolutely nothing ! '^ How, then, shall we that 
are dead to sin live any longer therein ? " To live 
in a condition from which I have been separated 
by death is a monstrous and unnatural existence. 
The believerj^ — he who is in Christ alive unto God, — 
is to treat? himself, hi-e old sinful self, as a dead and 
buried thing ; in fact, to leave himself, so far as his 
old ways, habits, affections, and lusts are con- 
cerned, in the place where the twelve stones were 
laid, — under the water, — out of sight, — ^' there unto 
this day.'^'^ 

If, then, the old nature is seen in us — if angry 
tempers, sinful words, worldly ways, selfish actions, 



BURIED WITH CHRIST. 67 

are allowed to exist — what are wo doing ? Why ! we 
are bringing the '' old man with his deeds " to life 
again. It is just as if an Israelite had brought up 
out of the bed of Jordan the stones which had been 
once buried in its waters. 

Oh ! may we learn the blessed lesson this strik- 
ing type sets before us — learn to ^'reckon ourselves 
dead indeed unto sin." Then we shall make no 
'' provision for the flesh, to satisfy the lusts thereof." 
We do not nourish, feed, or gratify the tastes of 
the dead. Neither, if we consider that we have 
died, and are regarded by Grod as dead and out of 
sight, shall we be endeavouring to nourish and 
gratify the desires of that old nature which is 
" corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." 

We shall keep our bodies under, and mortify our 
members which are upon the earth. We shall be 
living as those who are " alive unto God in Jesus 
Christ our Lord'* 



TWELVE STONES ; OR, EISEK 
WTTH CHRIST. 



Joshua iv. 21. 

"And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your 
children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What 
toeau these stones ? " 

We now come to the consideration of the meaning 
of Joshua's action with regard to the stones taken 
out of the Jordan, and pitched in Gilgal, in the 
promised land. 

This action was taken under the express direc- 
tions of the Lord Himself, for we find it thus 
Written : — " And it came to pass, when all the 
people were clean passed over Jordan, that the 
Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, Take you twelve 
men out of the people, out of every tribe a man ; 
and command ye them, saying. Take you hence 
out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where 
the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones ; and ye 
shall carry them over with you, and leave 



TWELVE STONES. 69 

them in the lodgiDg-place where ye shall lodge 
this night," (iv. 1-3.) ''And the children of 
Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up 
twelves stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the 
Lord spake unto Joshua, according to the number 
of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried 
them over with them unto the place where they 
lodged, and laid them down there," (iv. 8.) " And 
those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, 
did Joshua pitch in Gilgal," (iv. 20.) 

We learn that these stones were to be ^'a 
sign," " a memorial unto the children of Israel." 
For in the 6th and 7th verses he says, " That 
this may be a sign among you, that when your 
children ask their fathers in time to come, say- 
ing, What mean ye by these stones ? Then ye 
shall answer them. That the waters of Jordan 
were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the 
Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters 
of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall 
be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for 
ever." And, again, at the end of the chapter, 
we find that '' He spake unto the children of 
Israel, saying, When your children shall ask 
their fathers in time to come, saying. What mean 
these stones ? Then ye shall let your children 
know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on 
dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the 
waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were 
passed over^ as the Lord your God did to the Red 



70 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

Sea, which He dried up from before us, until we 
were gone over; that all the people of the earth 
might know the hand of the Lord, that it is 
mighty ; that ye might fear the Lord your God 
for ever," (iv. 21-24.) 

The question, '^What mean these stones?" is 
therefore not left without an answer. Erected in 
Gilgal, they were to be conspicuous memorials of 
the power and grace of God, witnesses to succeed- 
ing generations and surrounding nations that the 
hand of the Lord was mighty. The twelve stones 
thus symbolised what the twelve tribes were meant 
by God to be ; and the living nation was intended 
to be in a far higher and truer sense a sign of the 
power and grace of God, than it was possible that 
inanimate stones could ever be. " Ye are my wit- 
nesses," said Jehovah to His people in days of 
old. " Ye shall be witnesses unto me," said Jesus 
to His disciples. " Epistles of Christ," — " Known 
and read of all men," — '^Written not in tables 
of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart," was 
the character of the early Christians ; and it is 
to be nothing less than signs of the power and 
grace of God that the children of God are called 
upon to live in the present day. 

We may therefore regard the place whence the 
twelve stones were taken, the position in which 
they were erected, the purpose they were to serve, 
as distinctly illustrating and typifying the origin^ 
position^ and destiny of the people of God, 



RISEN WITH CHRIST. 71 

Tlieir origin. It was " out of the midst of 
Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet 
stood firm," that the stones were taken. In fact, 
from the very place where the other twelve stones 
were deposited. That other set of stones repre- 
sented, as we have seen, the people of God as buried 
with Christ, the passing away of '' old things,'* 
the putting of them out of sight as sinners. 
Their being laid in the midst of Jordan typified 
the truth of which baptism is now the appointed 
type, viz., that the believer is regarded by God as 
united to Christ in His death and in His burial. 
^^We were buried with Him," under the waters of 
judgment : and these deep waters have eternally 
hidden us, in our character as sinners, from the 
^ght of a holy God. 

But if Jesus died and was buried as the repre- 
sentative and head of those who are " His body," — 
the Church, — He was also in His resurrection their 
representative and head. He said of Himself, 
" Except a corn of wheat die, it abideth alone ; but 
if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit ; " and it was 
in death, in that wonderful travail of the Re- 
deemer's soul, that His seed, the countless multi- 
tude of the redeemed, were virtually begotten. In 
the sight of God, ^^who quickeneth the dead, and 
calleth the things that be not as though they were," 
to whom the future is a vast present, every one who 
ever has been, or shall be, united to Christ, was 
quickened when He was quickened. We " were 



72 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

quickened together with Him^^'' — and were thus 
'^ begotten again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead." True it is, that it is only as one 
by one, ^^ through the faith of the operation of 
God," we are made partakers of Christ, and 
^^ married to Him that is raised from the dead," 
that the actual birth takes place. But as every 
grain of the ear of corn is in the seed, as every 
branch and leaf that is subsequently and gradually 
developed is in the acorn that is sown, as Levi 
was '^ in the loins of Abraham " when Melchisedek 
met him, so every believer in Jesus was in Him 
when He died, in Him when He was buried, in Him 
when He was quickened. He did not rise alone, — 
^^We were quickened together with Him;" and it 
is of those who are His flesh and His bones that 
He speaks in prophecy when He says, ''My sub- 
stance was not hid from thee, when I was made in 
secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts 
of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet 
being unperfect ; and in thy book all my members 
w^ere written, which in continuance were fashioned, 
when as yet there was none of them," (Ps. cxxxix. 
15, 16.) 

But it is at the place of judgment, whether we 
take the cross or the grave as its expression, that 
the new life, the consequence of union with Christ, 
commences, '' Except the corn of wlieat die^ it 
abideth alone." It was out of the dark waters of 
the river of judgment that the tw^elve stones were 



RISEN WITH CHRIST. 73 

taten ; it is the emerging from tlie water of bap- 
tism that represents the resurrection of the believer 
with Christ. There must be an end of the old 
life before there can be the commencement of 
the new. Then, when the old life with its. deeds, 
whether ncianifestly sinful, or apparently righteous, 
has come to an end, the new life begins. The un- 
profitableness, corruption, and death of the flesh is 
confessed by the sinner when he comes to Jesus, to 
Him who has been crucified for him in his stead. 
As long as he imagines that he can make himself 
any better by means of prayers, religious duties, 
or eff'orts of any kind, he does not come as a lost 
sinner to Christ. But when he has learnt that 
" works done before the grace of Christ have the 
nature of sin,"* that they are therefore ''dead 
works," and that his life is so bad that it is only 
fit to be put an end to, and obliterated ; then see- 
ing in Jesus, the Son of God, one who, being " in 
the likeness of sinful flesh," represented his old 
life and nature, and thus died for him, and was 
buried for him, he comes to the cross, he is brought 
to the grave ; in other words, he is willing to 
take the place of death, and confessing that he is 
" undone," to receive a risen Saviour as his new life. 
It is to this point that we are so slow to come, 
and especially hard is it for one who has lived an 
outwardly moral, decent, and so-called religious 

* Tliiateenth Article of the Church of England. 



74 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

life. The publicans, the harlots, the sinners, 
willingly came to the waters of Jordan. They 
^'confessed their sins;" having no good life to 
pride themselves upon, they came to John and 
were baptized of him. By that act they acknow- 
ledged that it was not improvement or amendment 
that they needed, but the washing away of the past; 
nay, more than that, the burial of the past in the 
waters of Jordan, as incorrigibly bad, — '' desper- 
ately wicked." But the Pharisees, the men who 
were outwardly correct, who were zealous in their 
devotions, regular in their religious duties, and 
" as touching the righteousness that was in the law 
blameless," were " not baptized of him." They 
could not consent to take the ground of sinners, to 
acknowledge that their past life was, though per- 
haps outwardly fair, inwardly and inherently bad, — 
that there was '' no difference," for that " all had 
sinned." Seeking to ''establish their own righteous- 
ness," they would not " submit themselves to the 
righteousness of God." 

When, therefore, one of them, '' a master in 
Israel," came to Jesus for teaching, feeling pro- 
bably that though he had conscientiously, like Saul 
of Tarsus, done his best, he yet needed a little to 
complete the perfectness of his life ; the first lesson 
that the Divine Teacher taught him was the worth- 
les.sness of his life and works up to that moment, 
and the necessity of having an altogether new life, 
if he would ''see" or "enter the kingdom of 



RISEN WITH CHRIST. 75 

God.'* ^^ Except a man be born of water * (lit. 
" out of water ") and of the Spirit, he cannot enter 
into the kingdom of Grod," were the startling words 
which fell upon the ear of the Pharisee, and told 
him that, unless he, like the publicans and sinners, 
was willing to acknowledge that his past life, nay, 
even his nature, deserved deaths — that the past must 
be washed away and buried, — as represented by im- 
mersion in the waters of Jordan, it was impossible 
for him to take his place in the kingdom of God. 
He must die, — the waters must cover him, — he 

* It was ^videnth^ to the baptism in the waters of Jordan, which 
was attracting universal attention, that our Lord alluded in the 
above words. ** Jerusalem also, and all Judea, and all the country 
about Jordan," were going out to John, " and were baptized of him 
in Jordan, confessing their sins.'* Coming to the water, descending 
into it, covered by it, emerging out of it, they expressed, as strik- 
ingly as any symbol could express, their acknowledgment of past 
unprofitableness, their worthiness of death, their need of a new life. 
It was to this water that the outwardly righteous would not come. 

I need hardly say that the words afford no foundation for the 
figment of baptismal regeneration which has been built upon them. 
Baptism, we are told, is a '' form (lit. type) of doctrine," (Rom. vi. 
17,) but it is only a form. To make it more than a form, divinely 
appointed though it be, is to confound the symbol with the sub- 
stance, the sign with the thing signified. When our Lord expounds 
to Nicodemus the means whereby he might obtain the new life, — 
** be born again,'' — He points him, not to baptismal waters, but 
to Himself, the crucified and risen Son of Man received by faith : 
*' Whosoever bdieveth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life.'*' The new birth is by faith in Jesus through the power of the 
Holy Ghost, (1 Peter i. 3-23.) Baptism is the exhibition of death, 
bnrial, and resurrection, by union with Christ — and is thus the 
symbol of that new birth. 



76 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

must tate the place of death, — emerge out of those 
waters of judgment, {" be born out of water; ") and 
having there laid aside the old man, '^be born of 
the Spirit," before he could enter into that king- 
dom of which every inhabitant is a new creature 
in Christ. 

This, whether with publicans or Pharisees eighteen 
hundred years ago, or with us who live in the 
present day, is the very beginning of life. There 
cannot be a new life till the old is dead and 
buried. In coming to Jesus therefore, that is, 
in trusting in Him, we are made partakers of 
His resurrection and of His life ; acknowledg- 
ing, by thus coming, that death, the extreme 
penalty of the law, was the " due reward of our 
deeds," we are identified with Him in His death. 
We were '' crucified with Christ," we "are dead 
with Him," we were '^ buried with Him." Being 
thus identified with Him, there is an end of us as 
far as regards the flesh, the old man in the sight 
of God. The law has done its worst, justice has 
been satisfied, the cross has slain and the grave has 
covered me, when, in my representative and sub- 
stitute, who w^as " in the likeness of sinful flesh," 
I died and was buried. " There is therefore now no 
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." 
They are " dead to the law by the body of Christ." 
The life that the believer has in Christ is an en- 
tirely new, a resurrection life. It is not the con- 
tinuation of the old life, improved and amended. 



RISEN WITH CHRIST. 77 

That, being desperately wicked, has, in the sight of 
God, come to an end, the " old things have passed 
away," and the believer is a ^^ new creature" in 
Christ. He is said to be '' created in Christ Jesus," 
(Eph. ii. 10.) He is no longer ^^in the flesh but in 
the Spirit," (Rom. viii. 9,) and he is therefore free 
from the law of sin and death. The life which he 
possesses is one which is altogether removed out of 
the reach of condemnation, for Christ is his life, 
and he is ^^ alive unto God in Jesus Clu^'st." 

True it is, that though not '' in tkejiesh^''' the flesh 
is in him ; he is in the body, and that body is a 
body of sin ; and the presence of sin in him occa- 
sions him many a struggle and conflict. But his 
legal, his judicial, standing, being in God's sight, 
'' not in the flesh, but in the Spirit," he is told to 
'' reckon himself dead unto sin, but alive unto God 
in Jesus Christ." Reckoning thus by faith, he is 
enabled to live in God's sight a new creature ; 
counting himself dead to sin, sin has no power over 
him, for sin can only work in a living body, where- 
as ^^ he that is dead is freed from sin." 

We have, then, in the fact that the twelve stones 
were taken out of Jordan, from the very place of 
death and judgment, and were henceforth, instead 
of the twelve stones buried in the waters, to re- 
present the tribes of Israel, the people of God, 
the deeply important truth exhibited to us that our 
new life only commences when, by faith, we come 
to Jesus crucified and slain, thus acknowledging 



78 TWELVE STONES ; OR^ 

that death is our due reward, that, in the words of 
the hymn — 

** My sins deserve eternal death. 
But Jesus died for me." 

Till then, — till a crucified Saviour is received hy 
faith, — we have no life in us. In vain may we try to 
follow His example and tread in His steps, hoping 
that, by thus endeavouring, we shall eventually 
obtain salvation. It is not by looking to Jesus as 
our Example, but to Jesus as our Sacrifice, — our 
Substitute, — Jesus on the cross, — who ^' died for our 
sins, according to the Scriptures, and was buried," 
that we get the life. " Except we eat the flesh of 
the Son of Man, and drink His blood, we have no 
life in us." Our life begins by reception of a cruci^ed 
Saviour. The waters of Jordan, — the cross, — the 
grave, — there is the birthplace of every child of God. 

What next do we learn from i\iQ positionin^hiQh. 
the stones were placed ? 

They were in the land of promise ; they were set 
up ; they were steadfast ; and in each of these re- 
spects they were a representation of Israel in the 
land of Canaan, and thus of God's people in the 
present day. 

The twelve tribes were now in the land which 
had been promised to them, and were the virtual 
possessors of all the riches and blessings that be- 
lc»nged to that land. Those riches and blessings 
were no longer seen afar ofi", and hoped for by them; 



RISEN WITH CHRIST. 79 

their feet trod the very soil of Canaan; it was given 
them for an inheritance. The waters of Jordan no 
longer rolled between ; its stream was behind them ; 
they were on the Canaan side : Egypt and the 
wilderness were amongst the things which were 
^^ behind." In like manner, the believer is already 
in " heavenly places ;" " quickened together with 
Christ/' he has been ^'raised np together, and 
made" to ^^sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." 
As those stones, brought out of the darkness of 
Jordan's bed, were now in the light of the sun of 
heaven, so the believer who, as a sinner, has been 
united by faith to Jesus at the cross, {" baptized 
into His death,") is also united to Him in His re- 
surrection, and is brought " out of darkness into 
His marvellous light." 

He is in the land of promise ; though not yet in 
heaven, he is already in " heavenly places," and, 
being there in Christ, is " blessed with all spiritual 
blessings." As Israel was then the virtual pos- 
sessor of all the good land contained, so the believer, 
as one with Christ, is already the virtual possessor 
of all that the heavenly places contain : condemna- 
tion and judgment, the cross, the grave, all lie 
behind, and behind him for ever. " He shall never 
come into condemnation, but is passed from death 
unto life." Life and light, liberty and peace, rest and 
joy, are all his, for they are Christ's, and " all things 
are yours, for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." 

How glorious it is to get, by God's grace, a clear 



80 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

and settled view of this unalterable position in 
Christ Jesus! But how is it to be obtained? say 
many. I cannot realise it, I cannot feel that I am 
perfectly delivered from judgment, I do not enjoy 
that life and light and liberty I wish I did. How 
is it to be obtained ? Simplj^ by believing what God 
has said. He tells you, who trust in Jesus, that 
you are baptized into Him, that where He, the Head 
is, there you and all the members- of the mystical 
body are in G')d's sight; and you liave to believe it 
on the authority of His word. 

You are not called upon to verify it by your 
own experience or feelings. If you look at your- 
self, or at what you are in yourself, you at once 
see what you are in the flesh, and that, as in 
the flesh, you are not in heavenly places ; but if 
you look at yourself as God regards you, namely, 
as one who died with Clirist, has been buried with 
Him, has been quickened with Him, and raised up 
together with Him, you at once see that you can, in 
God's sight, and as in Christ, be nowhere else than 
where He is, for He is the living Head of a living 
body. If you doubt this, you get, so f\ir.as your ex- 
perience and feelings are concerned, to the wrong 
side of Jordan again, nay, perliaps into the very 
darkness of its waters of judgment ; but reckoning 
yourself, as God reckons you, to ^'be dead unto sin, 
but alive unto Him in Jesus Christ our Lord," you are 
the virtual possessor of all that He has in His risen 
life above, short of that absolute freedom from the 



BISEN WITH CHRIST. 81 

presence of sin, and that giory which is only to be 
entered upon at His coming. 

It is, in fact, just in proportion as you take God 
at His word, in respect of the position in which He 
has placed you by virtue of your union to Christ, 
that you are able to enjoy and realise the spiritual 
blessings which are your present portion. 

Then, further, these stones were " set up^'^^ 
'' pitched in Grilgal ; " they were not carelessly 
allowed to lie about anywhere, to be overgrown with 
moss and weeds, but they were erect, conspicuous. 
Joshua set them up there by God's command; and 
there they were to stand for succeeding genera- 
tions. 

Such was the position of Israel when placed in 
the good^ land by the power of God. Such is the 
position of the people of God, whether looked at 
in the aspect of the whole Church, or of indi- 
vidual members, " living stones." 

Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ I remember 
this: God has set you up where you are. It is His 
design. His power, His grace that acomplished it, 
that took you out of the '^horrible pit, and out of 
the miry clay, and set your feet upon a rock." You 
had nothing to do with it yourself, any more tlian 
the twelve stones, or the twelve tribes whom they 
represented, had to do with getting into the posi- 
tion in v/hich God had placed them. " They got not 
the land in possession by their own sword, iieitlur 
did their own arm save them ; but Thy rigU^ 



82 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy connte- 
nance, because Thou hadst a favour unto them," (Ps. 
xliv. 3.) ^' Not for thy righteousness/' it was said 
to them, ^^ or for the uprightness of thine heart, 
dost thou go to possess their land," (Deut. ix. 5.) 
The position in which you now are is one into which 
you are brought solely and entirely by the grace 
of God ; you have no claim, to it by merit. God 
has put you there, and has " set you up." There is, 
therefore, no presumption or pride in taking the 
position which He has chosen to give you ; you need 
not be afraid of " setting up yourself for better 
than other people." The world may say this of you; 
and those whose idea of salvation is connected with 
their own efforts and their own righteousness may 
inveigh against you as presumptuous for daring to 
say that you are " saved," that you are " seated in 
Christ in heavenly places," that you " have eter- 
nal life, and can never perish," because they think 
that by sucli assertions you lay claim to having 
perfectly fulfilled the law in your own person. But 
your claim is Christ: the inheritance, you know well, 
is not of " the law," but " of promise;" and being 
of promise, works are excluded ; and works being 
excluded, boasting is excluded, so far as you are 
concerned — your boasting is in God. It is He who 
has raised up " the poor out of the dust, and lifteth 
up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them 
among princes, and to make them inherit the throne 
of glory, ' (1 Sam. ii. 8.) 



RISEN WITH CHRIST. 83 

Tlie stones were to remain there. They were 
not to be one day in the sunshine of Gilgal, and 
the next in the darkness of Jordan, one day erect 
and conspicuous tokens to God's power, and another 
carelessly trampled on by the passer-by. " Stead- 
fast, unmoveable," is the motto for the believer in 
Jesus. " Stand fast in the liberty." Be strong in 
the grace that is in Christ Jesus. dear Chris- 
tian reader! are you seeking after consistency .^ Are 
you seeking to be the same firm, steady, shining 
Christian every day, and all the day, and every- 
where ? or is your life a halting, fitful, spasmodic 
Christianity ? What we need in these days are not 
men like Mr Byends, who was born in the town of 
Fair Speech, and walked with Religion when she 
wore her silver slippers ; but men whom neither the 
fear of man nor the love of the world will draw 
aside, who are not 'tossed about with every wind of 
doctrine," and '^ wavering" like a wave of the sea; 
but who, with their feet firmly planted on the Rock 
of Ages, stand fast, and say with truth, both of the 
favour and frown of the world, both of pleasures and 
persecutions, " None of these things move me." 

Such are the men who have brought glory to Grod; 
not your vacillating, timid, half-and-half professor, 
afraid to draw a sword or strike a blow, fearing to 
be called by names of reproach, for Christ's sake. 
The men that have turned the world upside down 
were " steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in 
the work of the Lord." 



84 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

Reader ! will you seek to be such ? 

Lastly, let us consider the purpose which these 
stones were to serve. 

They were to be tokens of the power of God ; 
they were, by then- very presence, to arouse in- 
qmry : ^^ What mean these stones?" The '^children 
were first to learn the wondrous history they com- 
memorated, and then '^ all the peoi)]e of the earth 
were to know the hand of the Lord, that it was 
mighty," (iv. 21, 24.) 

Such is the purpose for which God saves sinners 
and unites them to Christ: '^ Ye shall be witnesses 
unto 7;^^." They are to ^*show forth the praises 
(lit. the virtues) of Him who has called tliem out 
of darkness into His marvellous light," — '^ Lights- 
in the world, holding forth the word of life," — ^^ A 
city set upon an hill," — '^ Epistles of Christ, read 
and known of all men," are some of the many ex- 
pressions used to describe the testimony wliich 
God's people ought to present to the world. As 
these stones were to be continual tokens of the 
wonderful power of God in bringing Israel through 
Jordan, so are His believing people to be the con- 
stant w^itnesses to His power and grace and love, 
in saving them from condemnation, and bringing 
them from '^ the power of darkness," into '^ the king- 
dom of His dear Son." 

It is no longer by pillars or monuments, by a 
ciuiously wrought tabernacle or a gorgeous temple, 
that witness is to be borne to the existence and 



RISEN WITH CHRIST. 85 

character of Jeliovali. ^' Living stones " are His 
memorials; and every soul that has been gathered 
from the kingdom of Satan, and brought into vital 
union with Christy is to be a token to the world 
around that " the hand of the Lord it is mighty/' 
that He is what He calls Himself, " the Saviour," 
'' mighty to save." 

It follows, then, that as the very presence of these 
stones in Gilgal was to be sufficient toaronse inquiry 
as to their meaning, so the existence and presence 
of a living Christian ought to excite interest and 
inquiry in the minds of those amongst whom he is 
placed. There should be something so remarkable, 
so peculiar, about the life and conversation of a 
Christian, it should be so different from that of the 
world around him, that men should be compelled to 
ask, " What does this mean ? " He must be erect, 
steadfast, conspicuous ; his words and works, his 
lips and life, should be such that men should take 
knowledge of him as one who is distinct in theory 
and practice from the world. 

Let me ask of the Christian readers of these 
pages, Is this so with you ? Is there any- 
thing in your character, words, and habits of 
life, so different from the world around you, that 
men are involuntarily compelled to ask them- 
selves or others, ^'What does this mean?" Not 
that there is to be a forced singularity, a pecu- 
liarity for the sake of being peculiar ; that were 
merely to copy the Pharisaism of ancient days. 



86 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

It was by notliing put on as a garb that Moses, 
on his descent from communion with God in the 
Mount, attracted the attention of the Israelites : 
there was no effort on his part to produce an im- 
pression ; the shining of his face was the natural 
consequence of gazing upon God ; he could not 
help reflecting that glory which he had been 
beholding. 

Thus should it be with us. If we have been, if 
we are, living with God, the result must be apparent; 
our words, our actions, nay, our very looks, will 
reflect some rays of the mind of Christ; and 
*' the life of Jesus manifested in our mortal 
flesh," while it may arouse the hatred and oppo- 
sition of some, will attract others, and will, 
at least, arouse attention, and be a witness 
in a dark world to the glory of God. Oh ! that 
we might realise that this is the purpose for 
which God sends us into the world, as He sent 
His only-begotten Son. All His works, all His 
operations, are to reveal His glory, love, and 
power. ^' The heavens declare the glory of 
God." The law on Mount Sinai manifested His 
holiness. The incarnation and suffering of the 
Son revealed the Father. It is now reserved for 
the children of God to show ^^ that the hand of the 
Lord it is mighty," to manifest, by the .exhibition 
of a risen life, '^ what is the exceeding great- 
ness of His power which He wrought (first) in 
Christ when He raised Him from the dead," and 



RISEN WITH CI^IST. 87 

then in us, when He quickened its together with 
Him, and raised us up together, that thus " to 
principalities and powers in heavenly places might 
be known by the Church the manifold wisdom 
of God." 

Two words more. It was ^^ the children^'' who, 
in the first place, were to have their attention 
aroused by the stones, then ^^ all the people of the 
earth''' Such was the divine order then, and such 
it is still. ^^ Gro home to thy friends^ and tell them 
how great things the Lord hath done for thee," 
was the command to the healed demoniac of G-adara. 
First " show piety at home " is the command still. 
It is in our own domestic circles, in our home re- 
lationships, that the candle is to shine, that it may 
give " light unto all that are in the house,''' Believe 
me, that man's, that woman^s godliness is of a poor 
order that does not compel those who dwell with 
them, whether wife or husband, parent, child, 
brother or sister, master or servant, to see that 
there is something in them which makes them 
different and distinct from the ways and works of 
the world around. We are often apt to reverse 
this order. Many are inclined to overlook the 
quieter duty of showing piety at home, and to sub- 
stitute for it an activity in religious work abroad. 
No doubt it is easier to some to undertake work for 
God in spheres where the inconsistencies of temper 
and tongue which are displayed at home will not 
be seen ; but God says, Begin at home, lee the light 



88 TWELVE STONES ; OR, 

shine there. If it be a true, a burning light, it 
will not long shine only there; it will break forth 
through the chinks and crevices, and will shed 
many a ray out into the darkness of the night; 
but it must begin at home. Reader! I would say 
to you, as Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ^' What have 
they seen in thine house ? " Has your sweetness 
of temper, your loving obedience, your cheer- 
ful self-denial, your steadfast faithfulness, caused 
tliose who dwell with you to take knowledge 
of you that you have been with Jesus ? Or has 
your home-life been a constant contradiction to 
your testimony abroad ? Remember, the testi- 
mony of Jesus began by showing ^' piety at home." 
He was ^^ subject to His parents." Seei, oh! seek, 
^^ to adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in all 
things," first of all in that station of life where He 
has placed you. 

Christian parent, who may be reading these 
pages, see to it that it is, above all things, with 
yowr children that your life-testimony has weight; 
that you so live before them that they shall be 
constrained to see that the hand of the Lord 
it is mighty, and thus to seek to know His power 
themselves. 

But let it further be noticed, that if it was the 
children who, in the first instance, were to have 
their attention and inquiries aroused, the testimony 
of the stones was to extend beyond. ^^ All the people 
of the earth" were to learn about Jehovah. Though 



TIISEN WITH CHRIST. 89 

onr witness is to begin at home, it is not to end 
there. And this truth corrects another error we are 
prone to make. All are not exposed to the danger 
I have alluded to above, of substituting active ^York 
outside the house for quiet testimony inside it. 
Some err in another way : their temperament is 
different ; they shrink from a bold confession that 
may bring reproach ; they are inclined to limit their 
religion to the four walls of their own room, and, 
under the excuse that they do not like to make a 
parade, and that they think it right to " keep their 
religion to themselves," they abstain from the 
outward and active manifestation of the spiritual 
life which God expects from all His children. In 
one sense it is true our religion is a thing between 
US and God; but though its origin and nourish- 
ment must be " in secret," its course and onw^ard 
flow is to be open and decided. Let such take heed 
lest, under a plausible excuse, they really shrink 
from that plain-spoken and courageous confession 
of their Saviour w^iich He has commanded. We 
are not to seek to be conspicuous ; but if our faces 
shine from communion with God, it must be 
noticed. If the " glory of the Lord has risen " 
upon us, the world will see it, and ought to 
see it. 

The only Bible wdiich the ^* people of the earth " 
will, in many cases, read, is the epistle presented by 
the life of a bold and decided . Christian. God's 
chosen instrument for spreading the knowledge of 



90 TWr.LVE STONES. 

Himself in the world is the Church, built of ^^living 
stones." May our lives be such that those around 
us may be arrested by our testimony, lived and 
spoken ; and being thus led to inquire, " What 
mean these stones?" may they be further led to 
Him to whose grace and love and power we are and 
ought to be witnessej^I 



GILGAL; OR. THE CIECUMCISION 
OF CHEIST. 

Joshua v. 2, 3, 9. 

** At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, 
and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time. 
And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the 
children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. . . . And the 
Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the 
reproach of Egypt from off you : wherefore the name of the 
place is called Gilgal unto this day." 

We have now arrived, in our consideration of the 
Book of Joshua, at the period when the people, hav- 
ing safely passed the river Jordan, were encamped 
at Gilga], in the land of promise. The wilderness 
with its wanderings lay behind them. They were 
in Immanuel's land. But though it was the Lord's 
land, and given to them for an inheritance, it was 
not yet appropriated by them. Though given to 
them by promise, the possession of it could only be 
enjoyed in proportion as they grasped it, and made 
it their own. " Every place that the sole of your 
feet shall tread upon^ that have I given unto you/* 



92 GILGAL ; OR, 

said the Lord, (i. 3.) They must go forward, 
chihn the country in faith, and make it their own, 
or they would remain without enjoyment or realisa- 
tion of its treasures. 

Here, then, they stood ; the land lay before them ; 
but one by one its fortresses were to be subdued, 
its inhabitants conquered, and its cities and fields, 
its vineyards and oliveyards, appropriated by right 
of promise from Him to whom the land belonged. 
The principal of its fortresses was immediately in 
their way. Jericho, walled up to heaven, was in 
sight of their camp, and it was against this great 
stronghold that the efforts of the Israelites were to 
be first directed, as in some sense the key of the 
country. The inhabitants of the city had lost all 
courage when they heard of the drying up of the 
Red Sea before Israel, and of the defeat of the two 
kings of the Amorites on the other side of Jordan, 
(ii. 10, 11 ;) and now that to these startling events 
was added the miraculous drying up of the river 
Jordan, we read that " their heart melted, neither 
was there spirit in them any more," (v. 1.) This, 
then, might have been conceived to be a favourable 
moment for at once advancing to attack the city ; 
for it was reasonable to suppose that such falter- 
ing hearts could have off*ered but little resistance to 
the army before which not only the hosts of the 
Amorites had yielded, but at whose approach the 
very sea had fled, and Jordan was driven back. 

But the Israelites were not permitted to take 



THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. 93 

advantage of their terror. God Himself delayed 
their advance. Instead of directing them at once 
to lay siege to Jericho and overcome it. He caused 
tliem to wait, at the least, four days at Gilgal, 
'' in the plains of Jericho." Such a delay might 
appear to be a grievous mistake ; in an earthly 
general it might be deemed an irretrievable 
blunder ; but the Israelites had Jehovah for their 
Captain, wlio was guiding them " by the skilfulness 
of His hand," and He could make no mistake. He 
halted His army at Gilgal for no unimportant pur- 
pose ; the delay was intentional ; before Jericho 
could be successfully attacked, work had to be done 
in their own camp; before '"the sword" could be 
drawn upon their enemies, the " sharp knife " must 
be applied to themselves. Circumcision must take 
place before Jericho could fall. 

The place that this incident occupies in the 
hi?^tory of the Israelites, and the teaching which, I 
believe, it is intended to convey to us, for whose 
learning it is written, will appear somewhat more 
clearly if we for a moment review the even s that 
preceded it, and their application to the spiritual 
history of the people of God. 

Moses had died, and Israel, under Joshua, was 
to inherit the land. The law had failed to bring 
them in, and one, whose name was the '' Samour^^'' 
had arisen to accomplish the purposes and promises 
of God. The destructive river that barred their 
progress had been passed in safety, its power hav- 



94 

ing been broken, and its whole weight sustained 
by the presence in its waters of the ark of the 
covenant; the ^^ river of judgment" lay behind 
them. By no efforts of tlieir own, but by faith^ 
Israel had crossed the barrier. The twelve stones 
buried under its waters, and the twelve stones 
erected in Gilgal, had exhibited to the people the 
respective symbols of their burial and oblivion as 
regarded the past, and of their elevation and esta- 
blishment in a new position as living witnesses to 
the power of Jehovah. 

We have seen how strikingly these facts illustrate 
the history and position of believers. Not by works 
of righteousness that we liave done, not by obed- 
ience to the law, not under Moses, but by Jesus 
Christ the Saviour, are we brouglit into the land 
of the living. The teiTible judgment, the sentence 
of death that barred, like the flaming sword at 
Eden's gate, an entrance into the presence of God, 
was sustained by Him whom that ark typified : He 
underwent its curse : He sank under its waters : He 
died for us ; and by simple trust in His atoning 
work, in His substitution for us, we pass scathless 
into the place of blessing. " Being justified by 
ftiith, we have peace with God, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ : by whom also we have access by 
faith into this grace wherein w^e stand," (Rom. 
V. 1, 2.) The judgment is now behind us, so 
far as regards our sins ; having been " crucified 
with Christ, we shall never come into condemna- 



THE CTRCUMCTSION OF CHRIST. 95 

tion/' (lit. the judgment.) The divine ordi- 
nance of baptism, the type of which was the 
burial and raising up of the two sets of stones, 
then sets forth our position in God's siglit. 
^^Dead with Christ," ^^ buried with Christ," 
both as to past sin and as to our present evil 
nature, we are represented as " risen with Christ," 
both as to our standing before God, and as to our 
participation in His resurrection-life. We are 
^^alive from the dead," ''new creatures in Christ," 
"alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord." 
This is our judicial position, our actual standing 
before God. In Christ Jesus we are in the 
" heavenly places," with judgment behind us, as 
the Israelites were in Canaan, with Jordan in their 
rear. As, however, the land that lay before them 
was to be appropriated, as its strongholds were 
to be subdued, so, in order to our enjoymtut of 
" all " the " spiritual blessings " wherewith we are 
" blessed in heavenly places, " there must be the 
apprehension of the promises by faith, the making 
of the land our own by the planting of the foot on 
all that God has given us. We must claim and 
lay hold^ or else we shall never realise the blessed 
portion which is truly ours in Christ. 

As, moreover, with them, mighty strongholds 
were in their way, which, if not subdued, would 
effectually dispute their title and hinder their 
peaceful enjoyment of the country, so with us; 
many a lofty city within us has to be " laid low, 



96 GILGAL : OR 



even with the dust," many a heart, now a fortress, 
possessed by the god of this world, has to be over- 
come and won for God. 

Conflict, then, is the portion of the believer, as 
much as it was that of Israel. Conflict with " spiri- 
tual wickedness in heavenly places," as theirs was 
with flesh and blood in the land of Canaan. 

But as with them it was needful that the second 
circumcision should take })lace before that conflict 
could be commenced, so with us must that take 
place which answers to circumcision, before we 
can successfully go out to fight the battles of Christ, 
and subdue those whose hearts are now fortresses 
garrisoned by Satan for places whicli may become 
fruitful gardens of the Lord. In tlie Language of 
the story before us, we must learn to use the " sharp 
knife " upon the flesh in ourselves, ere we can go 
out with the ^' drawn sword" to contend with the 
powers in the world around us. • 

I would here beg my reader's most earnest and 
praj^erful attention to the subject under considera- 
tion. It is one of which, I believe, the importance 
can hardly be overrated ; for we live in days when 
there is a wide-spread and intelligent perception of 
the judicial standing of the believer, but where 
there is very little of the practical application of the 
separating and sanctifying truths of the Word to the 
heart and life. We, many of us, know what it is to 
be " seated in heavenly places in Chi^ist Jesus ; '* 
our hymns and books and tracts are full of it, and 



THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. 97 

thank God that they are so. But are we as well 
acquainted with i\\Q practice oi" cleansing ourselves 
from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit?" 
I fear that it is here we fall short. Doctrinal know- 
ledge is not always followed by experimental appli- 
cation. It is truly blessed to '^ know these things ;" 
but there is a greater blessedness, for Jesus said, 
'' Happy are ye if ye do them." 

The 5th of Joshua contains, then^ lessons which 
I believe are perhaps more needed in many cases 
than any other ; for it is to a neglect of the com- 
mand there given that must be traced in great 
measure our want of power against the evil that is 
around us, our want of success in the work to which 
God has called us as '' soldiers of Jesus Christ." 

In order to gain a clear understanding of the 
truths here embodied, we must consider three par- 
ticulars — what circumcision represents, why it was 
necessary in the case before us, and how it was 
effected. 

First, then, what does circumcision represent? 
It was the ^' token of the covenant" betwixt God 
and His people, as embodied in Abraham, (Gen. xvii. 
11.) It was an outward and visible sign or token 
of an invisible covenant; it was God's mark *' in 
the flesh ; " for He said, ^^My covenant shall be in 
your flesh," (Gen. xvii. 13.) It did not make Abra- 
ham a child of God, but it was to be marked on him 
because he was such. He had been accounted right- 
eous before God long before he was circumcised; at 

a 



98 GILGAL; OR, 

least fourteen years had intervened between the 
day when '^Abraham believed God, and it was 
counted unto him for righteousness, " (Rom. iv. 3,) 
and the day when he, his son, and his household 
were circumcised. (Compare Gen. xv. 6 with Gen. 
xvii. 24, 25.) It was, therefore, the " seal of the 
righteousness which he had, yet being uncircum- 
cised," (Rom. iv. 11.) Circumcision, then, repre- 
sents that outward and visible mark impressed on 
all those who are " the children of faithful Abra- 
ham," — God's mark in their flesh. 

AVhat is, then, that mark now ? However the 
ordinance of baptism, as the token of admission 
into the visible Church, may, in some degree, 
answer to chxumcision, it clearly does not exhaust 
its meaning.* The various references to circum- 
cision in the Old Testament show that it was 
meant to convey a further truth, that it was in- 

* I do not deny that circumcision was, in many respects, the type 
of baptism, the ordinance by which we are admitted into the 
visible Church. On the contrary, I firmly believe that it was such, 
and, moreover, that the doctrine of baptism, viz., the death and 
burial of the old man, carried out in daily life, precisely answers to 
the doctrine taught by circumcision, viz., the mortification of our 
members which are upon the earth. As, however, in the history I 
am considering, the doctrine of baptism appears to be typified by 
the twelve stones, so the application of that doctrine seems to be 
exhibited by this second circumcision. Having, therefore, dwelt 
upon the doctrine in the previous chapter, I concern myself espe- 
cially with the application in the present, and, for that reason, make 
but little allusion here to circumcisioa as the type of the outward 
ordinance of baptism. 



THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. 99 

tended to denote the practical separation from all 
that defiled. (Deut. x. 16, xxx. 6 ; Jer. iv. 4, 
ix. 26.) The last reference especially shows that, 
being uncircumcised in heart, the house of Israel was 
regarded by God as being as much uncircumcised 
as Egj^pt and Edom, and Moab and Amnion. It 
wa"s in the practical separation from sin that true 
circumcision consisted, more than in the perform- 
ance of an outward rite. '^ Circumcision is that of 
the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter," 
(Rom. ii. 29.) Do we then ask. What is the mark 
by which the children of Abraham, the people of 
God, are to be recognised now? What is ^Hhe 
token of the covenant," " the covenant in their 
flesh ? " What is it but the practical putting away 
of sin from our lives, as it has been judicially put 
away from our consciences ? Is it not this to which 
St James refers, when, after describing the children 
of God as having been begotten with the Word of 
truth, (i. 18,) he immediately adds, (as circum- 
cision took place quickly after birth,) ^'Wherefore, 
lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughti- 
ness?" St Peter, in the same line of thought, 
speaks of those who have been born again by the 
Word of God as " new-born babes, laying aside all 
malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and 
all evil speakings," (1 Pet. ii. 1.) What is this but 
spiritual circumcision, God's mark in the flesh, 
that practical righteousness which is the seal or 
outward token of imputed righteousness ? 



100 GILGAL ; OR, 

Circumcision is expressly said by the apostle 
Paul (Col. ii. 11) to denote that "putting off the 
body of the sins of the flesh " which was figuiatively 
set forth '^by the circumcision of Christ," when we 
were " buried with Him in baptism/' but is to be 
practically carried out in the case of those who are 
therein "risen with Him " (not by the opus operatum 
of an outward ordinance, but) " by faith of (or in) 
the operation of God," as they daily bear out in the 
body the dying of the Lord Jesus, and "mortify their 
members which are upon the earth." 

Nothing less than the thorough, decided separa- 
tion from sinful ways and habits, though they may 
cliug to us, and be as much part of our nature as 
a man's skin is part of him, is, I believe, God's 
mark in the flesh, ^.<^., in the outward visible life 
of His people. It may be as painful as circumcision, 
and I doubt w^hether the mortification of our members 
will ever be anything but painful to the flesh ; but 
painful or not, the responsibility of God's children 
to carry it out is clear. " If thy hand offend thee, 
cut it off. If thy foot offend thee, cut it oft". 
If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out." Such 
is the teaching of the Master Himself. Cir- 
cumcision, then, in few words, represents " the 
putting off the old man, w^hich is corrupt, according 
to the deceitful lusts," that " cleansing ourselves 
from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit," 
which is the duty of those who are risen with Christ, 
and seated in heavenly places. 



THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. 101 

But next, why was the circumcision necessary in 
the case before us ? The reason of it is given in the 
4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th verses of the chapter, to 
which I would beg* the reader to refer. The fact 
was that the children of Israel, one and all, were 
nncircumcised; " the reproach of Egypt " clung to 
them, that is, the mark or badge of Egypt — uncircum- 
cision — was still upon them ; although, nominally, 
the people of God, they were without the distinctive 
mark of such people ; there was no diiference between 
them and the nncircumcised Egyptians ; this was 
their reproach and shame. 

It was indeed a sliame to them that, being, as 
they were, the people of tl>e living God, having 
been " taken from the midst of another nation by 
a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm," that 
they might be a peculiar people, they had omitted 
to exhibit that mark of peculiarity which God had 
enjoined upon them. During the forty years' wan- 
derings they had relapsed into carelessness ; for 
some reason or other they had not executed upon 
their flesh the sentence of death which had been 
commanded, and the habits of the Egyptians in 
this respect had become their habits. This was 
their reproach; and how could they be permitted to 
advance in the character of the army of God to 
fight his battles, whilst the first duty enjoined 
upon them as having enlisted in His service was 
neglected ? How could they with a good conscience 
execute judgment upon the nations of Canaan for 



102 GILGAL; OR, 

their terrible sins, while they refrained from judg- 
ing themselves ? If they shrank from using the 
knife upon their own flesh, could they be in a posi- 
tion to draw the sword upon others ? 

Impossible! ^^ Judgment" must ''begin at the 
house of God." Egyptian habits, conformity to 
Egypt^s ways, must be cut off and put away, in 
order that, with a clear conscience, and with the 
boldness of those who knew that they were indulg- 
ing no sinful compliance with the habits of the 
country from which they had been separated, they 
might go forth to fight and to conquer in the name 
of the Lord of hosts. It was indeed necessary to 
go forward in the work of the Lord, but that work 
could not be undertaken by those on whom reproach 
rested. For that reason it was that " at t/iat time the 
Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and 
circumcise again the children of Israel," (Josh. v. 2.) 

Is not this a truth of immense imj)ortance for 
us ? What do we see on every hand ? Activity in 
God's work, zeal and energy in His service; evange- 
lists going hither, and missionaries sent thither; 
societies formed, and working hard for the destruc- 
tion of Satan's kingdom in the world; operations of 
all kinds carried out; evangelical sermons preached, 
and tracts scattered broadcast through the length 
and breadth of the land ; all this we see, and God 
be thanked for it. There is room for it all, and 
much more. But if we examine closely into the 
inner lives, the habits and ways of a very large num- 



THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. 103 

ber of those engaged in all this work, do we find 
tha.t they are as careful in putting away from them- 
selves everything they know to be opposed to the 
mind of God? Have they fitted themselves by careful 
self-judgment for carrying out the purposes of God 
in reference to those that are still without ? Nay, do 
we not, on the contrary, find that great activity in the 
outward service of God is not only compatible with, 
but is often used as a set-off* against, great careless- 
ness as to the personal walk and habits of many an 
one whose ^^praiseis in all the churches " for apparent 
self-sacrifice in the work of the Lord? Is it not often 
the case, that, like Peter, they are first and foremost to 
draw and use the sword upon others with great ap- 
parent zeal for the defence of the truth, while they 
are neglecting the plain but more unconspicuous 
duty of watching and praying? 

Brethren in Christ ! for to such I would earnestly 
speak, (and whilst I thus speak, it is with the earnest 
prayer that I may profit by the solemn teaching of 
this passage myself,) how is it with you? Are the 
ways of Egypt, — the habits of the world, from which 
you profess to have been separated, still clinging to 
you ? Have you carelessly allowed yourself to con- 
tinue in the indulgence of that which you ought to 
have cut off and abandoned long ago? Whilst preach- 
ing to and teaching others, contending for the faith, 
and giving of your substance to the furtherance of 
the gospel, have you been conscious that you have 
been harbouring secret things which the Word of God 



104 GILGAL; OK, 

condemns? that you have been reluctant to apply to 
your own heart and life the trenchant truths your 
lips have been enforcing upon others ? Whilst j^ou 
have constantly prayed " Thy will be done on earth," 
have you in every known particular sought to do 
that will yourself? 

You have rejoiced in the apprehension of the 
blessed truths symbolised by the burial and eleva- 
tion of the twelve stones ; you have sung and 
preached about '^ being crucified with Christ," 
^'buried with Christ," '^ risen with Christ," and 
'' seated with Christ in heavenly places;" the risen 
life of the people of God has been a theme on 
which you have delighted to meditate, and per- 
haps to speak. Have you forgotten that imme- 
diately upon the bringing of the twelve tribes 
into the land of promise, the circumcision followed? 
You have dwelt much on the important truth that 
it is not by putting away evil that life can be ob- 
tained, and you have striven against the legality 
and self-righteousness which such a view of the 
way of salvation would promote ; have you been as 
careful to dwell upon and to apply to yourself the 
equally important truth that, although holiness 
does not and cannot precede salvation, it is the 
iiiimediate object and consequence of it? 

If circumcision of the heart, if practical separa- 
tion from evil in the life, has been neglected, is it 
any wonder that your efforts to advance the kingdom 
of God in the world around you have borne but 



THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. 105 

little fruit? It is he who purges himself who 
becomes a ^^ vessel unto honour, sanctified, and 
meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every 
good work," (2 Tim. ii. 21.) And I am sure that, 
if we faithfully look into our own hearts and lives, 
we shall see that much of our failure in work, and 
even of our unreadiness to undertake work, has arisen 
from the fact that our consciences have not been 
clear, that we have not been determined in '' cleans- 
ing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and 
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 

Oh ! let us see to this. Let us judge our own 
selves. Let us not be allowing ourselves in the 
ways of an evil world, from which we acknowledge 
Jesus died to deliver us, (Gal. i. 4.) If we have this 
hope, let us '^purify ourselves, even as He is pure ; " 
and let us exercise a godly jealousy over ourselves, 
lest we put hands to the work of the Lord which 
have not been first exercised upon ourselves. Better, 
a thousand times better, to wait the four days at 
Gilgal, than to rush up with uncircumcised hearts 
to Jericho. 

What is it that is the great stumbling-block with 
the unconverted ? Not that it forms a valid excuse 
to satisfy their own consciences, or will stand them 
in any stead before the bar of God ; but what is it 
that they constantly allege as one great hindrance 
to their acceptance of the gospel ? It is this, that 
they see that the preachers and teachers of that 
gospel, in so many instances, deny the power of 



106 GILGAL ; OR, 

godliness in their own lives ; that whilst they 
preach Christ as a Saviour from sin, and hold up 
the standard of New Testament holiness, they con- 
tradict it daily and hourly by conformity to the 
world, and compliance with its ways. 

Thus the ^^ reproach of Egypt" is on them, and 
the world laughs at their profession and their 
preaching. And justly so ; for how can they be- 
lieve that the cross of Christ can be effectual to 
their salvation, when they see that it fails to 
deliver you from the commonest temptations ? that 
it has not crucified your love of ease, your sloth- 
fulness, your irritability, your love of eating and 
drinking, your fondness for dress, and show, and 
rank, and pleasure, your desire for money, and all 
that money gives ? Little will they- believe what 
you tell them of a heavenly inheritance, while they 
see that your affection is set on things on the earth. 
Is not this one great cause of the unconverted 
state of children of Christian parents, of servants 
of Christian masters, of congregations of Christian 
ministers, of husbands of Christian wives, of wives 
of Christian husbands ? They see that you do not 
carry out the command of God to be holy '^ in all 
manner of conversation," and they justify them- 
selves in refusing to obey the command of God to 
^^ repent and believe the gospel." 

Oh ! may the exhortation ring in our ears and 
sound in the inmost recesses of our soul, ^^ Be ye 
holy, for I am holy," ^^ Circumcise yourselves to 



THE CIECUMCISION OF CHRIST. 107 

the Lord, and take away the foreskin of your 
hearts." 

Before, however, passing on, we must notice, 
with regard to the time when this circumcision was 
effected, that it was after the passing of the Jordan, 
and after the instruction conveyed by the burial 
and erection of the stones. On this point I would 
content myself with saying briefly, what, if space 
permitted, might be profitably expanded, namely, 
that it is only when we know the power of the re- 
surrection of Christ that we can enter into the fel- 
lowship of His sufferings, and be made conformable 
to His death, (Phil. ii. 10.) It is only in propor- 
tion as we apprehend what it is to be dead with 
Christ and risen with Him that we are in a posi- 
tion to " mortify our members which are upon the 
earth." This truth is strikingly taught in the 
Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, of which 
the former halves are entirely occupied with exhibit- 
ing the position of the Church as united to a 
risen Saviour, while the latter halves dwell upon 
the responsibility of the members to put away and 
put off all manner of evil. 

It is true that the Israelites incurred blame all 
the time that they neglected the command to cir- 
cumcise themselves in the wilderness ; but it was 
only when their wanderings were over, and they 
stood in the land of rest, that that command was 
enforced upon them. Continuance in evil is never 
justifiable; but it is the knowledge of the truth 



108 GILGAL; OR, 

that qualifies and strengthens us to pnt away the 
evil. Seek to enter into the realisation of the risen 
life, not merely as a doctrine, but a fact, and then, 
in the power of that life, purge away all iniquity. 

And now, lastly, Jiow was the circumcision 
effected? The answer is twofold. Joshua was the 
agent, the sharp knife was the instrument. Let us 
consider both. 

Joshua was the agent. We are not to suppose, 
of course, that Joshua's own hand effected the cir- 
cumcision of ^' all the people ; " it is of course 
understood that, to perform so extensive a duty, 
many hands must have been at work ; but in the 
scriptural account, the intermediate agencies, the 
many hands, are left out of sight ; they are not 
mentioned; while it is twice said ^^ Joshua circum- 
cised the children of Israel," ^' them Joshua cir- 
cumcised." Our attention appears to be designedly 
drawn to him as the immediate agent in the oper- 
ation. 

Now, Joshua is but another name for Jesus ; the 
one is the Hebrew, the other the Greek name, 
meaning the Saviour, and they are used inter- 
changeably in the New Testament, (see Acts vii. 45; 
Heb. iv. 8.) It is, then, to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
whom Joshua so strikingly typifies, that our minds 
are directed as the one to whom is committed the 
work of spiritual circumcision. 

And is not this blessed ? For do we not, in the 
first place, feel how powerless we are in the matter; 



THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. 109 

how thoroiiglily our own efforts have again and 
again failed, as we have tried in our own strength 
to break ourselves of some evil habit, or to cut off 
some darling sin which was as dear, nay, perhaps, 
we thought as necessary, to us as a right hand or 
foot, or eye ? How often have we made the strongest 
resolutions, and, after earnest prayer, determined at 
every cost to strip ourselves of the sin which clung 
to us as a garment, which we felt was hindering us 
in Christian work, damaging our influence for God, 
and bringing reproach upon our profession, and, 
consequently, upon Him by whose name we were 
called! And what has been the result ? Resolutions 
broken as often as made, till at last we have almost 
felt that it was of no use, that we must give it up, 
and be content to be defeated. 

But why was there this constant failure ? Why 
was our experience so sad? Why were we con- 
stantly feeling that ^^ the law in our members was 
bringing us into captivity to the law of sin," and 
compelling us to say, " The good that I would I 
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do?" 
So that we could but exclaim, under an enlighteoaed 
conscience but an impotent flesh, " wretched 
man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body 
of this death?" (Rom. vii. 24.) 

Oar experience was nothing in advance of that 
described in Rom. vii. 14-24, because we had not 
learned that the answer to the agonising inquiry, 
" Who shall deliver me?" was " Jesus Christ our 



110 GILGAL; OR, 

Lord.'*'* If that passage is closely analysed, it will 
be foundj I believe, to describe the struggles of au 
awakened, nay, a quickened and converted heart, 
after obedience to the holy law of God. But they 
are the struggles of a heart that is ignorant that 
Jesus is ^^ the way" of obedience as much as He is 
the way of salvation. The question all through is 
one of self versus sin. " I" and " me" occur no 
less than thirty-nine times ; Christ not once. No 
wonder that the end is failure. " I" may as well 
try to make " myself" holy as to save " myself." 
I can do neither the one nor the other. Jesus is 
made of God unto us sanctification (or holiness) as 
well as righteousness (or justification), and it is no 
more possible for me to circumcise my heart by my 
own strength or resolution than to save myself by 
my own righteousness. It is Jesus who must carry 
out the circumcision. What, then, have I to do? 
Simply to put myself in His hands to carry this out, 
as I put myself in His hands to save me. 

And then, in the second place, is it not blessed 
to see that He is powerful to do this; that " the 
government is upon His shoulders, and that He is 
able to order and establish His kingdom with judg- 
ment and justice ?" He is able indeed " to subdue 
all things to Himself; " and it is a glorious promise 
of which we may claim the fulfilment, '' The Lord 
thy God will circumcise thine heart, to love the 
Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy 
Boul," (Deut, XXX. 6.) It was the apprehension of 



THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. Ill 

Jesus as the way of holiness that caused the apostle 
to turn his cry of agony into the shout of triumph, 
^' I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
Till this is apprehended, our efforts after spiritual 
circumcision will be but unsuccessful. He is the 
Almighty agent who still circumcises the children 
of Israel, and rolls away their reproach. 

But if Joshua was the one whose hand carried out 
the circumcision, the '^ sharp knife" was the in- 
strument that effected it. And what is it that is 
described as " powerful and sharper than any two- 
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder 
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, 
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart?" (Heb. iv. 12.) What but the Word of God, 
that sword of the Spirit, the mighty instrument 
which, in the hand of Jesus, is the weapon whereby 
not only we overcome the wicked one, but whereby 
we also are enabled to cleanse our own ways. The 
Word of God, in respect of its cleansing power, is 
frequently referred to under the similitude of water ; 
and the same purifying and separating power is 
aptly set forth under the figure of the knife. As 
the knife was used for the circumcision, as it is the 
instrument which the husbandman handles in order 
to purge or cleanse the vine, that it may bring 
forth fruit, so also it is by its action that the 
^^filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness " is laid 
apart, and we are prepared, as the branch by the 
removal of the bark is prepared for the graft, to 



112 gilgal; or, 

" receive the engrafted Word." As it was by the 
knife that the grave-clothes which encompassed 
Lazarus, and hindered him from walking, working, 
and speaking, were loosed, so it is by the application 
of the sharp edge of the Word to our ways and 
habits that we are freed from anything and every- 
thing which, like the uncircumcision of Israel, is 
a remnant of our worldly bondage, and hinders us 
fi'om running with liberty in the way of God's 
commandments. 

It is, then, a solemn question with which to con- 
clude the consideration of this portion of our subject, 
do we permit the sharp edge of the Word to come 
into contact with, and to take effect upon, our 
hearts and habits? Do we not often deaden its 
force, and dull its edge, so far as in us lies, by ac- 
commodating its precepts to our own experience, 
by applying its commands, in their fulness and 
intensity, to other ages or other persons ? Or 
do we not often so interpose excuses of our 
own fabrication, relating to our constitution, 
our temperament, our circumstances, our position 
in life, and so on, between our consciences and its 
^'piercing" and ^^ dividing" edge, that its separating 
and cleansing power is not felt ? It is easily 
possible to " handle the Word of God deceitfully," 
and to ^'keep back" our '^ sword from blood." We 
are but too ready to spare ourselves; Satan is 
always at work, and on the watch to hinder the 
effect of the Word of God, whether it be by snatch- 



THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. 113 

iiig it away in its character of seed, lest tlie sinner 
should believe and be saved, or by blunting it as 
it falls upon the conscience of tlie saint, lest the 
sin which so easily besets him should be cut off 
and laid aside. Let us see to it, then, that we bring 
our hearts and consciences into close and constant 
contact with that Word which is the sharp and 
mighty instrument for purifying us from all ini- 
quity ; and putting ourselves into the hands of 
Jesus, entreat Him to make that Word effectual by 
the Holy Ghost for the removal of everything that 
is contrary to His mind and will, everything that 
•would hinder us in His service, or would bring 
reproach upon His people and His name. 

Then shall we know what Gilgal means ; for we 
shall be conscious of His voice saying, " This 
day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from 
oiiyoiL*' 



THE PASSOVEE; OR, EEDEMPTION 
EEMEMBEEED. 



Joshua v. 10. 

**An(i tlie children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the 
passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even, in the 
plains of Jericho." 

The people were now, to a great extent, prepared 
to undertake the work to which they were called, 
viz., to enter npon the conquest of the land of 
Canaan, that it might become " the Lord's land," 
and, as the ministers of His judgment, to exter- 
minate the enemies of God. Having purged them- 
selves from uncleanness, and the reproach of Egj^t 
having been rolled away from them, they were 
fitted to stand forth to carry out the work of the 
Lord. 

But although the great obstacle to their service 
was removed, we find that several things are yet 
recorded as intervening between the scene at 
Gilgal and the attack on Jericho. These things 



1 



THE PASSOVER. 1 ] 5 

were three in number. We are told that they 
kept the passover in the plain of Jericho ; that 
they exchanged the manna, the food of the wilder- 
ness, for the old corn of the land; and that the 
Lord Himself assumed the command of their host. 
Now these three things are not recorded without a 
purpose: having been written for our learning, it 
is doubtless intended that they should convey some 
instruction to our souls ; and the very fact that 
they are related as intervening between the second 
circumcision and the siege of Jericho, is in itself 
sufficient to show us that they represent certain 
facts in the experience or history of the spiritual 
Israel, the people of God, which must take place 
before they can be ^' perfect, thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works." 

What is it, then, that we may learn from the first, 
the keeping the passover in the plains of Jericho ? 

The passover feast, we know, was originally in- 
stituted at the time of the redemption of Israel out 
of Egypt, on that night when, by means of the 
blood of the lamb sprinkled on the door-posts and 
lintels of their houses, they were saved from the 
terrible judgment which the destroying angel in- 
flicted on the impenitent Egyptians. The only 
thing which, on that night, interposed between the 
Israelites and death, was the blood, '^When I see 
the blood, I will pass over you," was the message 
to them from God. It was only the blood that 
saved them from destruction. 



116 THE PASSOVER; OR, 

It was a striking and impressive type of the 
redemption of a sinner from tlie judgment which 
his sins deserve " by the precious blood of Christ, as 
of a Lamb without blemish and without spot/' " for 
Christ, our passover^ is sacrificed for us." As 
the lamb died instead of the first-born ; as the 
Israelite, trusting to that blood, was then and there 
saved by the express institution and decree of the 
Godof judgment, who thus revealed Himself at the 
same time as the God of grace ; so Jesus, " the 
Lamb of God," suffered for sins, the just for the 
unjust ; and the sinner who trusts in that death, 
who relies on that Saviour, is, by the authority and 
decree of God, '' delivered from the wrath to come." 
Instead of death, "\\q hath everlasting life ; " he 
" shall never come into condemnation, but is passed 
from death unto life." He hath " redemption 
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." 

Now the yearly feast of the passover was to keep 
in the continual remembrance of Israel the great 
fact of their redemption. It brought before their 
minds that they had been bond-slaves in Egypt, 
that they had deserved the judgment of God ; but 
that by His sovereign mercy and free grace they 
had been saved from judgment, by the blood of 
the lamb, and being delivered from the power of 
Egypt, had been made the children and servants 
of the Most High God. They were commanded to 
" observe this thing for an ordinance to them, and 
to their sons,ybr ever ; " and it was specially added, 



EEDEMPTION EEMEMBERED. 117 

*' And it shall come to pass, when ye he come to 
the land which the Lord will give you, according as 
He hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. 
And it shall come to pass, when your children shall 
say unto you, AVhat mean ye by this service ? that 
ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's pass- 
over, who passed over the houses of the children of 
Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, 
and delivered our houses." 

Th^ time was now come when this command was 
to be obeyed. The people were to be brought into 
remembrance of that '' night much to be observed," 
of that blood which redeemed them from their 
previous bondage. And, therefore, being come into 
the land so long promised, and at the very time of 
the year when the feast was due, we are told they 
kept the passover in the plains of Jericho. 

They were in a new country, but they were not, 
therefore, to forget the old, the foundation truth. 
If it had not been for the blood of the lamb, they 
would have been in Egypt still, slaves to Pharaoh. 
It was to the blood they owed it that their feet 
trod the plains of Jericho, that they were in the 
midst of the good land beyond Jordan. Surely it 
was fitting that their redemption out of bondage, 
and from the iron furnace, should be specially 
brought to mind ; for thus their hearts would 
be lifted up with fresh gratitude to Him who 
had redeemed them, and brought them to Him- 
self. 



118 THE PASSOVER; OR, 

They had arrived, it is true, in a country where 
Pharaoh did not reign, and where the terrible judg- 
ment inflicted by the destroying angel at mid- 
night was not again to be inflicted ; but redemption 
was none the less to be remembered. The nation 
was now, so to speak, forty years old ; forty years 
had elapsed since the " beginning of months," on 
the passover night in Egypt; but that birthday was 
not to be forgotten. They had learnt many valu- 
able and important lessons during the wanderings 
in the wilderness, and last, but not least, the 
wondrous truths which we have seen conveyed in 
the passage of the Jordan ; they had arrived at 
years of discretion, but the first principles of their 
education, the very A B C of their training, was not 
to be lost sight of. Nay, because of growth and 
progress, it was the more needful that they should 
recall to mind the foundation truths on which 
everything else stood, and thus trace every blessing, 
every mercy, everj^ step, back to the source whence 
all originated, the free love and mercy of Jehovah, 
in redeeming them by the blood of the lamb. 

Do we not therefore plainly see the reason why 
the keeping of the ordinance of the passover was 
specially enjoined upon them on their coming into 
the land which the Lord gave unto them, and why 
it is specially recorded that they '^encamped in Gil- 
gal, and kept the passover in the plains of Jericho?" 

And has it not a voice for us ? Is the grace of 
God in providing the Lamb, the marvellous conde- 



KEDEMPTION REMEMBERED. Il9 

scension of the Lord Jesus in becoming Himself oiir 
passover Lamb, the shedding of His " most pre- 
cious blood," the salvation thus obtained for us, 
the immunity from judgment, the deliverance from 
the slavery of sin and Satan and the world, are 
these '' principles of the doctrine of Christ" ever 
to be forgotten? Is any growth in knowledge, 
any progress in spiritual life, any realisation of 
higher truth, to efface from the memories of the 
people of God the fact that they were lost, 
condemned sinners, that they were redeemed by 
blood, even the precious blood of God's dear Son ? 
Surely, every true-hearted believer in Jesus, every 
one who has, in any degree, realised his own sinful 
and lost condition, will at once reply — No ; whatever 
else I forget, I never can forget my Saviour's death 
for me ; whatever else I have learned, can never 
cause me to lose sight of the fact that — 

" My sins deserved eternal death, 
But Jesus died for me.'* 

Yet it is from this great foundation truth that 
Satan would seek to lead us away, and thus cause 
us to attempt to satisfy ourselves with either intel- 
lectual knowledge or active service, whilst forsak- 
ing, so far, at least, as regards the practical realisa- 
tion, the true place of blessing, — the place where 
true humility can alone exist — the cross of Christ, — 
and neglecting the real and only source of strength — 
communion with a crucified and risen Saviour, who 
has said, " He that eateth me shall live by me." 



-.>...^*^ 



120 THE PASSOVER; OR, 

I need not particularise the numerous plausible 
ways in which the enemy of our souls seeks to 
attain this end, and thus to foster pride, " which 
goeth before a fall." Every one who is conscious 
of the plague of his own heart, and is not ignorant 
of the devices of Satan, will at once feel how fre- 
quent, how subtle, and how often successful those 
efforts have been ; and will at the same time heartily 
endorse 'the truth, that strength and joy, humility 
and love, zeal and watchfulness, have only flourished 
in proportion as he has kept looking to the blood, 
trusting to the Lamb that was slain. 

Oh, how often has the hardness of heart which 
intercourse with the world has caused been sub- 
dued ! how often has the thick earth-born cloud, 
which has seemed to shut out eternal things, been 
dispersed ! how often has peace been restored to his 
weary soul, and life been poured afresh into his 
fainting spirit, as, after wanderings and backslid- 
ings and fruitless efforts to restore himself, he has 
cast himself, on the old terms and with the old 
story — 

** Just as I am, without one plea, 
But that Thy blood was shed for me,'* — 

at the feet of that Saviour, and received afresh 
into his aching heart the blessed tidings through 
believing which he first found peace with God — 
" Justified FREELY through His BLOOD ! " 

Yes ; great as our knowledge may be, active as our 
zeal in service may be, advanced as our age in Chris- 



BEDEMPTION REMEMBERED. 121 

tian life may be, the foundation can never be left, 
the blood can never be forgotten. Was it not in 
order that the weak and halting disciples might ever 
hold fast the beginning of their confidence, that the 
gracious Lord, after breaking the bread and pour- 
ing out the wine — the symbols of His broken body 
and shed blood — said unto them, '' Do this in remem- 
brance of me ?" {i,e,j as a reminder.) And was it not 
well for the strengthening of their faith that, not 
yearly, like the feast of the passover, not half-yearly, 
as with some modern churches, or monthly, as others, 
but week by week, Lord's day by Lord's day, (as we 
may fairly assume from the New Testament,) the 
early Church " came together to break bread ? " 
Does not the commemoration of the Lord's Supper, 
where aged saints and youthful believers meet 
round the same table, where extensive knowledge, 
and great experience, and long and active service 
take the same place as the trembling faith of one who 
has, it may be, but just touched the hem of His gar- 
ment, bring to the memory and heart of every child 
of God the remembrance of a common ruin, a com- 
mon salvation, and of a common Saviour ? We are 
all one there; and the ground of our unity, as well as 
the source of our one life, is the blood of the Lamb. 
There all pride must be abased, as we together con- 
fess that " we do not presume to come to this Thy 
table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own right- 
eousness, but in Thy manifold and great mercies," 
and as we partake of that bread and wine which set 



122 THE PASSOVER ; OR, 

fortli the sacrifice of Ilim who was made sin for as, 
and redeemed us from the cm^se of the law by His 
most precious blood. 

Probably it was on account of the knowledge 
whereto they had already attained, and of the 
wondrous nature of the truths into which he was 
leading them, that Paul, after opening out to the 
Ephesian Church the height of their calling as 
seated together with Christ in heavenly places, 
bids them look at the deep and horrible pit from 
which they had been brought up, and says, 
" Wherefore remember, that ye who were once far 
oif are made nigh by the blood of Christ." The 
Ephesians were being led in reality into that field 
of knowledge and that phase of experience of 
which the exact type is the entrance of Israel 
through Jordan into the rich earthly blessings of 
the promised land. They were being taught the 
wondrous truth that a believer in Jesus has not 
only ^^ redemption through His blood, even the 
forgiveness of sins," but also that by union with 
that same Jesus he is identified in His death, 
burial, and resurrection ; that he has, as before 
explained, been '^crucified with Christ," ^'buried 
with Christ," ^^ risen with Christ," and that, as 
such, he is '' seated together with Him in heavenly 
places," and " blessed with all spiritual blessings 
in heavenly places in Christ." He was taught* 
that Christ's death was his death, Christ's resur- 
rection his resurrection, Christ's position his posi- 



REDEMPTION REMEMBERED. 123 

tion, and Christ's portion of blessing, even ^^all 
spiritual blessings/' his portion. 

Was not this marvellous teaching? Think of a 
^' worshipper of the great goddess Diana " being 
transformed into a servant of the living God — one 
who had been dead in trespasses and sins, the 
fearful abominations of heathendom, being alive in 
Christ — one who had been " darkness " being now 
'' light in the Lord," — and of his being told that he 
was not merely saved from the penalty of his sins, 
but that he was also a partaker of the glory of 
God! Such an one would surely need to heje- 
minded of the ruin in which he had been found, 
and of the costly price which that God, ^'who was 
rich in mercy," had Himself paid to redeem him 
from death and hell. The greater the height of 
glory to which he was called as a child of God, the 
more need that it should be seen that the founda- 
tion on which the whole superstructure must rest, 
if it was to be immovable and sure, must be the 
blood of the cross. 

And what do we learn from the anthem of praise 
that swells upward from the lips of the great 
multitude that no man can number, as, clothed in 
white robes, and with palms in their hands, they 
stand before the throne? They have many of 
them learnt much, many of them suffered much, 
many of them achieved much; they have toiled, 
and fought, and conquered. But what is the 
burden of their song ? They do not speak of their 



124 THE PASSOVER; OR, 

victories, their sufferings, their experiences — '^Sal- 
vation to our God which sitteth upon the throne^ 
and unto the Lamby Why are they there? Is it 
their faithfalness, their righteousness, their know- 
ledge, their labour that has earned for them that 
marvellous position? ^' They have washed their 
robes and made them w4iite in the blood of the 
Lamb ; therefore are they before the throne of God." 
And will not the same song resound through 
eternity? When millions of ages have passed 
aw^ay, when the story of earthly life appears 
as an infinitesimal point in the great vista of 
eternity; when, no longer knowing in part, the 
happy believer shall have been, through countless 
ages, drinking at the fountain of knowledge itself, 
and learning the marvellous secrets of Jehovah; 
will all that has passed dim the glory of the 
cross? Will not "the night in which He was 
betrayed " be as clearly before the eyes of the 
ransomed Church of God as the night of the 
Lord's passover was year by year brought before 
Israel though centuries had passed away? Will 
the new song, ^'Thou wast slain, and hast re- 
deemed us to God by Thy bloody'" ever become old? 
Nay ; as ages roll away, that wdll be still the 
'^ night much to be remembered : " as the glories 
of eternity are unfolded, the glory of the cross 
will never pale ; great as the splendour of the 
throne will be, its main glory will be, that in its 
midst stands '^ a Lamb as it had been slain." 



EEDEMPTION KEMEMBERED. 125 

The brightness of that city which has no need of 
the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, 
streams forth from His presence; ^^for the glory 
of God did lighten it, and the LAMB is the lighi: 
thereof." 

This keeping of the passover in the plains of 
Jericho tells us, then, that the precious blood that 
saved us is never to be forgotten, whether we be 
babes in the Christian life, or, like Joshua and 
Caleb, experienced veterans, fathers in Christ. But 
does not the fact of its being kept before the Israel- 
ites advanced to actual conflict with the heathen 
powers that ruled the land that was to be brought 
into subjection to the God of Israel, teach us 
a farther lesson ? As surely as spiritual circum- 
cision, the putting away of all known evil, is 
an indispensable preliminary to victorious conflict, 
so surely must we engage in that conflict with 
hearts fresh from the scene of the passover. The 
truth of Christ crucified for me, the clear apprecia- 
tion and remembrance of redemption by blood, of 
what I myself owe to the grace of God, must be 
a living power in my own heart, if I am to wield 
with energy and success, in the wars of the Lord, 
^Hhe sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." 
It is when the lips are touched with a live coal 
from the altar of sacrifice that the heart is ready 
to respond to the inquiry of God, ^^ Whom shall I 
Bend, and who will go for us?" ^^ Here am I, 
86ud me." 



126 THE PASSOVER ; OR, 

- And if this be so, does it not point ont the secret 
of much of our want of success, who are striving 
to wage the great conflict with the powers of dark- 
ness in the world around us? When the early 
Christians " turned the world upside down," and 
cast out the power of Satan, as manifested in the 
religion of Paganism, what was the secret of their 
success? ^^They overcame by the blood of the 
Lamb." " The blood is the life " still, and if we 
would have the same success, we must use the same 
means. It is not merely by the preaching of the 
gospel, but by that gospel being preached from 
hearts that are, as it were, baptized in the blood of 
the cross, and by lips that are touched with the 
live coal, that the strongholds of sin and Satan will 
be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 
And what, in like manner, is one great secret of 
success, in waging that inward and mysterious 
warfare against the lusts, desires, and inclinations 
of the evil nature which still dwells in us, but the 
cleaving to the crucified and risen Lord, with full 
purpose of heart? Is not faith still " the victory 
which overcometh the world?" And what is the 
object of that faith? In whom is it that we 
must trust for victory, on whom must we lean 
for strength ? Jesus, the Lamb that was slain, is 
the One on whom our helplessness casts itself; and 
it is from His death, appropriated by faith, as the 
passover lamb, eaten, was the strength of the Is- 
raelite, that our strength is derived. It is at His 



REDEMPTION REMEMBERED. 127 

cross that I see '' the body of (my) sin destroyed, 
that (I) should not henceforth serve sin." It is 
there, that, seeing that '' he that hath suffered 
in the flesh hath ceased from sin," I learn 
to ^^arm myself with the same mind," and reck- 
oning myself dead unto sin by the cross, to 
live as one who is now alive unto God in Jesus 
Christ. 

If this be true, does it not follow that the cause of 
our frequent, daily, hourly failures, that the reason 
why defeat takes the place of victory, and that, in- 
stead of always triumphing in Christ, we are often 
brought into captivity to the law of sin which is 
in oijr members, is the fact that, like the Jews of 
old, we have ^^forgotten our resting-place?" We 
have permitted the trials of life, its cares and sor- 
rows, or its riches and pleasures, to deaden our 
sense of the unspeakable preciousness of the blood 
of Christ ; our activity in service has often pre- 
vented us from quietly keeping the feast of the 
passover, from recalling the memories of redemp- 
tion from bondage ; our very growth in knowledge 
and experience has, it may be, caused us to lose 
sight of the fact that we are but blood-bought 
sinners ; and, whilst rejoicing in the height of glory 
to which we have been called, and in the position 
of resurrection in which we have been placed, we 
have forgotten the " hole of the pit whence we 
were digged." No wonder, then, that the power of 
sin within us has got the upper hand^ and that we 



128 THE PASSOVER ; OR, 

have been overcome of evil. It is^ alas I too true 
that many are obliged to say — 

** Where is the blessedness I knew 
When Jii'd I saw the Lord? 
Where is the soul-refreshing view 
Of Jesus and His Word ? 

*' What peaceful hours I once enjoyed I 
How sweet their memory still ! 
But they have left an aching void 
The world can never fill." 

Is it SO with you, reader? Are you conscious of 
light without love, service without power, pro- 
fession without practice ? Are you feeling the 
Christian life a bondage instead of " perfect free- 
dom?" Come back to the blood. Look unto 
Jesus again. He says, " I will heal your back- 
slidings, I will love jow/reel?/.'^^ It is on the old 
terms that He bids you return. He says, " Ask 
for the old path, where is the good way, and walk 
therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." If 
^ou have left your first love. He has not left His. 
He knows " no variableness, neither shadow of 
turning." The blood is as powerful as ever to 
^^ break the power of cancelled sin," to speak peace 
to the heart. You may in truth say — 

** Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood 
(Hath) never (lost) its power! " 

Come to that " fountain opened for sin and for 
all uncleanness." His w^ord is still as true for a 



REDEMPTION REMEMBERED. 129 

retnrniTig backslider as for a repenting sinner: 
'' Him that cometli unto me I will in no wise cast 
out;" and thus you will prove, with Israel, though it 
may be afrer as many years of wandering, how joy- 
ful, how refreshing, how blessed it is, once again to 
^' keep the passover in the plains of Jericho I " 



-THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND;" OE, 
"STEONG MEAT." 

Joshua v. 11, 12. 

** And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after 
the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the self- 
same day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they 
had eaten of the old corn of the land ; neither had the children 
of Israel manna any more ; but they did eat of the fruit of the 
land of Canaan that year/' 

The passover had been kept in the plains of Jericho. 
The blood by which they had been redeemed had 
been called to remembrance. It was not sprinkled 
again on the doorposts and lintels ; that had been 
done once for all; redemption could not be repeated; 
but it was called to remembrance ; and each family 
of Israel standing round the " lamb roast with 
f re," had again commemorated the night on which 
they had been brought out of Egypt with a mighty 
hand, and with a stretched-out arm. 

They thus, on entering upon possession of the 
promised land, took their stand on redeeming grace, 



THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND. 131 

and ascribing their position as a ransomed people 
to the sovereign love of God, acknowledged that 
they '' got not the land in possession by their own 
sword, neither did their ow^n arm save them ; but 
Thy right hand, and Tliine arm, and the light of 
Thy countenance, because Thou hadst a ftivour unto 
them," (Ps. xliv. 3.) They openly professed that, 
. though brought into a new country, they stood upon 
the old ground ; that though they had passed 
through Jordan, and were now in the position, 
typified by the twelve stones, of a people " alive 
from the dead," they were as much as ever indebted 
to the blood of the lamb for all their blessings. 

But although the source of their very life as a 
nation could never be changed, and was, therefore, 
always to be had in remembrance, we see that a re- 
markable change took place in their daily food. The 
manna, by the miraculous supply of which their life 
and strength had been day by day maintained, was 
now to cease, and, in its place, the people were to 
partake of the " old corn of the land." The " light 
food " suited to the wilderness was to give place 
to the strong rich produce of the plains of Canaan, 
and on this the people w^ere to feed before the sword 
was to be drawn against the inhabitants of the 
land. 

And all this is but the type a,nd shadow of 
truths which deeply affect the spiritual welfare of 
the ^'ransomed of the Lord." Like Israel, the 
believer, as we have seen^ can never leave the 



132 THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND; OB, 

precions blood. He must ever remember that lie 
has been ^^ redeemed/' ^^ justified," ^^ washed," and 
" brought nigh " by the blood of the Lamb. After 
years of pilgrimage, after heights and depths of 
experience, nay, after ages of glory, he must still 
and for ever say — 

*'I stand upon His merit, 
I 'know no other stand ; 
Not e'en where glory dwelleth. 
In Immanuel's land ! " 

But though this is and ever must be true, though the 
source of his life, the origin of his blessing, must 
be through eternity " the Lamb as it had been 
slain ; " though he never can leave the beginning 
of his confidence, ^^ Jesus Christ, the same yester- 
day^ to-day^ and for ever^'' he yet is conscious, and 
is taught in the Word of God, that the spiritual 
food by which the life of his soul is maintained 
must be, in a certain sense, changed and suited to 
the requirements of his age and condition. That 
which was fitting for him as a ^' babe " in Christ will 
not do for him as a ''young man^' or as a ''father;" 
and it is beautiful to see that the same provision is 
made for his spiritual sustenance, at the different 
stages of his life, as was made for the natural sus- 
tenance of Israel after the flesh. 

Let us awhile meditate on the instruction here 
conveyed to us ; and may the gracious and Holy 
Spirit of God, whose blessed and appointed work 
it is to take of the things of Christ and to show 



STRONG MEAT. 133 

tliem unto us, mercifully open the understandings 
of botli writer and reader, that such meditation 
may be sweet and profitable. It will be probably 
desirable to dwell first on the meaning of the 
manna; then on that of the old corn of the land; 
and, lastly, on the lesson taught by the exchange 
of the one for the other. 

First, then, what did the manna represent? It 
was the gift of Grod to the Israelites to sustain 
their life, when, otherwise, they would have died 
of hunger. ^' Thou gavest them bread from heaven 
for their hunger." It was heavenly food: '^ He 
gave them bread from heaven to eat." 

We need be at no loss to ascertain the antitj^pe. 
'^ I am the bread of life^'' said the Lord Jesus. 
'^Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, 
and are dead. This is the bread which cometh 
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, 
and not die. I am the living bread which came 
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, 
he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will 
give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of 
.the world," (John vi. 48-51.) And again: ^^ I 
am the bread of life : he that cometh to me shall 
never hunger," (ver. 35.) 

As the manna was the gift of God to dying 
bodies, so is Jesus the gift of God to perishing 
souls. As the manna came down from heaven 
into the desert, so Jesus came from the Fatlier's 
presence into this world of want. As without 



134 THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND ; OR^ 

feeding on the manna the people would have died, 
so without receiving Jesus the sinner has no life 
in him. As it was by daily gathering of that 
heavenly food that the Israelites' life was sus- 
tained, so it is by constantly partaking of Jesus 
by faith that the life of the spirit is maintained 
from hour to hour and from day to day. 

And each of these points is full of instruction, 
which the believer, as well as the yet unsaved 
reader, will do well to ponder. 

" The bread which giveth life " is a gift, a free 
gift from the God of grace. No Israelite deserved 
the manna. He had no more claim or right to it, 
on the ground of his character or conduct, than he 
had, when an idolatrous slave in Egypt, to redemp- 
tion by the blood of the lamb. His sins in Egypt 
excluded him from the benefit of redemption, if his 
own merits were taken into consideration ; his 
murmurings by the Red Sea, and in the desert, 
disentitled him to any supply of his daily wants 
as that which he could claim. He was indebted to 
the free sovereign grace of God for the gift of that 
food by which his life was sustained day by day. 
It was a gift, nothing but a gift, and as such was 
not of works, but of grace. 

And has the believer any more right to have his 
spiritual life maintained ? Must not every one who 
has travelled even but a few days on pilgrimage 
confess that, if his only hope of constant renewal 
of life rested upon blamelessness of conduct, or 



STROKG MEAT. 135 

sinlessness of life, he must, in that case, be utterly 
without hope ? 

Does he not acknowledge that he is dependent for 
strength^ moment by moment and day by day, upon 
that gift of God, that bread of life, even Jesus, by 
receiving whom, through faith, his life is con- 
stantly renewed ? 

Yes ; it is blessed to understand and to remember 
that Jesus, all He is, and all He has, is ever the 
free gift of God, as free to the believer as to the 
perishing sinner. No length of service, no growth 
in ki^^vvledge, can ever give the believer a legal 
claim to that which is a gift. If we could by any 
means set up a right or ground on anything we 
had done or been, a claim to Jesus, He would no 
longer be the gift of God ; He would be the reward 
of merit, and then the maintenance of the life 
which we received by faith without works would 
be effected by works ; or, in other words, '^ having 
begun in the Spirit," we should be '^made perfect 
by the flesh." But this can never be so. Ages of 
obedience to the law of God could never remove a 
sinner redeemed by blood from the ground of grace. 
Having been ^^ justified by faith," by faith he must 
ever live. And living by faith is only, in other 
words, depending for daily, nay momentary, 
strength, on the supply of that which, like the 
air we breathe, is the free unmerited gift of God. 

And is it not equally blessed to see that, as the 
gift of Jesus, as life to the perishing sinner, was 



136 THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND ; OR, 

^' of grace," so the continual supply of that same 
Jesus to the saint is of grace also. As long as they 
were in the wilderness, the manna was not taken 
away. They constantly deserved to have their 
supplies cut off; but though they were frequently 
chastised for their murmurings, idolatries, and 
sins, we do not read that the manna once failed 
them. 

Has God been less gracious to His people now ? 
Has He withdrawn His " unspeakable gift ? " They 
may often have failed to apprehend its preciousness, 
they may have taken but sparingly of that which God 
has given liberally, they may have been straitened 
in themselves, but they have not been straitened 
in God. As surely as the sun rose on the tents of 
Israel was the manna given ; as surely as the 
throne of God is established in heaven is the supply 
of every spiritual need bestowed upon the people of 
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Here is rich comfort for any poor child of God 
who feels that, by frequent backslidings and 
wanderings of heart, he has forfeited every claim 
to the provision which God has made for His people 
in Christ. Forfeited every claim ! He never had 
a claim to forfeit. He is as dependent this very 
moment on the sovereign grace of God as when 
he first came, a trembling sinner, to the fountain 
of the blood to be cleansed. He had no merit, no 
claim then ; he has none now. And if he has no 
claim, and if mercy is free, without money and 



STRONG MEAT. 137 

witliout price, he may come to take a fresh supply 
now with boldness. His claim, if he must have 
one, is his want ; his plea, God's grace : and when 
he comes, just as he is, to have his emptiness satis- 
fied out of the fulness which dwells in Jesus, 
simply because he is empty, needy, and unde- 
serving, he will prove how rich that grace of God 
is, which continues the supply of " all spiritual 
blessings in Christ Jesus," on the sole ground of 
sovereign mercy and love. Reader ! the manna 
lies around you : you need not perish of hunger ; 
stretch out your hand, receive the gift now ; arise, 
eat, and go in the strength of that food. 

Then, further, the manna came from heaven. It 
was not the product of the earth : the sand of the 
desert might have been cultivated for centuries, 
ah! for ever, before it would have yielded ^^ angels' 
food." It was not manufactured by human hands; 
no hands of ^^ cunning workmen " would ever have 
succeeded in making " the bread of heaven." The 
skill and labour of all Israel could never produced 
that food which maintained the host for forty 
long years in ^^the great and terrible wilderness." 
Their supply of " daily bread" came straight from 
heaven, fresh from the hand of God. 

And whence comes the ''bread of life?" whence 
that supply for the soul, of which, if a man eat, he 
shall never die, but of which, if he eat not, he has 
no life in him? " The bread of God is He which 
Cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the 



138 THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND ; OR, 

world.'' Life is not within ns by nature; it is 
from without, even from on high. '' Ye must be 
born again," (marginal reading, ^' from above ^''^ said 
Jesus to Nicodemus. No cultivation of the barren 
soil of the natural heart can produce life. It is a 
creation, even a new creation from above. The 
elixir of life cannot be discovered by the wisdom 
nor manufactured by the skill of man. ^^ Eter- 
nal life is the gift of God in Jesus Christ our 
Lord." 

Hence we may perceive the folly of attempting to 
produce or gain life by self- improvement. It is like 
watering and sowing the sand of the desert. The 
theory of developing the eternal life out of the soil 
of the natural life is as futile as that of attempting 
to bring a clean thing out of an unclean. *^ That 
which is born of the flesh is flesh," and no cultiva- 
tion, improvement, or development will ever make 
it anything else. He who succeeded better than 
any other living man, who had so beautified his 
life that he could say, that ^' touching the right- 
eousness which was in the law " he was ^^ blame- 
less," and that he therefore had ^^more" to trust 
in than ^^ any man," yet describes his condition as 
being '^ in the flesh," and his righteousness as one 
of those things which he was willing to count as 
^Hoss for Christ." In other words, he confessed 
that, after all his efforts, he had failed to produce 
eternal life from within his own heart, and he was 
content to receive Christ as his life instead. 



STRONG MEAT. 139 

It is, then, by trusting in Jesus, that is, by re- 
ceiving Him as the gift of God, that we obtain life — 
spiritual and eternal life. It is not by looking to 
self, poring into our own hearts, or multiplying re- 
ligious efforts, that we can be made alive unto God, 
but by ^^ looking unto Jesus." It is by the coming 
of Jesus from heaven into this world, by His being 
bruised, even as '' bread corn is bruised," by giving 
His flesh that He becomes the life of the world, and 
that'^he that belie veth on Him hath everlasting life." 

The manna, then, represents Jesus as the free and 
undeserved gift ©f God to His needy people for the 
sustenance of their life during their pilgrimage in 
a desert land, as that life which is communicated 
to the soul, not developed from it, and is received 
by faith on the ground of grace. 

And now, what does the '^old corn of the land" 
represent? Can there be any other food for the 
soul of the believer than Jesus Christ? Impossible ! 
His own words plainly declare that His flesh and 
His blood is the only food of His people. That 
period can never arrive, either in time or eternity, 
when that food can be exchanged for any other 
means of sustenance. 

We are, then, shut up to interpret the old corn of 
the land as typifying Christ equally with the 
manna, only with this distinction, that it exhibits 
Him to us in a different character; that is, that 
whilst the manna accurately foreshadowed Him as 
the One who "came doivn from heaven " to give us 



140 THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND ; OR, 

life, and to be onr life, the old corn of the land 
was a type of Him as One who, being in the world, 
died and was buried, and then rose again, the 
" plant of renowD," containing in Himself, as an 
ear of corn contains its numerous seeds, all those 
who, in the counsels of Grod, were quickened together 
with Him, to bring forth fruit to God to all eter- 
nity. As the manna, Jesus is the bread which 
came down from heaven, and is indeed the life of 
all who receive Him ; as the old corn of the land. 
He is the One who has been raised from the dead, 
and through union with whom all His people have 
eternal life. They both represent the same Jesus, 
but in different aspects. 

In one respect they were both alike. The 
Israelites received both manna and old corn on the 
same condition — that of grace. They had toiled for 
neither : the manna was given them from heaven ; 
the corn had been sown and cultivated by other hands 
than theirs — they had no more right to it by inherit- 
ance, or as the reward of their own labour, than 
to the angels' food. But on this point I need not 
again dwell. I would only proceed to show the 
scriptural warrant for the view now given of the 
typical meaning of the old corn of the land, and 
then we shall be finally in a position to discover 
the reason of the exchange of the one for the other 
by the Israelites on their entrance into Canaan. 

It will be remembered that when certain Greeks, 
as recorded in the 12th of John, came to Philip, say- 



STRONG MEAT. 141 

iBgy ^^ Sir, we would see Jesus ; " and their desire 
was commnnicated to the Lord, He satisfied it by 
an answer that was full of the deepest teaching con- 
cerning His own person, suffering, and glory; for 
beginning by saying to them, " The hour is come 
that the Son of Man should be glorified,-' He pro- 
ceeded to explain in what that glory consisted, and 
how it was to be attained ; for He added, " Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall 
into the ground and die, it abideth alone : but if it 
die, it bringeth forth much fruit," (xii. 24.) The 
glory of the Son of Man consisted in bearing 
" much fruit ; " the means whereby it was to be 
attained was similar to that which is observed in 
the world of nature, viz,, death and resurrection. 
As the corn of wheat cannot " be quickened 
except it first die," and thus, through dying, be- 
comes the parent of numerous other corns of wheat, 
bearing ^^much fruit;" so was He to become the 
Author of eternal salvation, the " Father of many 
nations," the One who was truly to " blossom and 
fill the face of the world with fruit," only through 
the gate and grave of death. All who were to be 
partakers of His life, and thus to be the fruit of the 
travail of His soul, were to be united to Him in 
resurrection, as those who, in their Head and repre- 
sentative, had died, and were ^^ married to Him 
that was raised from the dead." 

It is, therefore, evident that when the Lord spake 
of the corn of wheat, He spake of Himself, as the 



142 THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND ; OR, 

one who was to die and be quickened, and thns 
become the second Adam, in whom the multi- 
tudinous seed of the Church of the living God were 
to be born unto eternal life, for ^^unto Him shall 
be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout 
all ages, world without end." 

Now the instructed believer clearly apprehends 
that He who is the life of His soul, and by constant 
communion with, or reception of, whom, by faith, 
that life is maintained, is not merely One who came 
down from heaven, but One who has died, and is 
risen again ; not only an incarnate Saviour, but a 
crucified and risen Saviour. It is one thing to see 
Jesus as the gift of God, as One who came into the 
world to save sinners, and a blessed thing, too, for 
it is eternal life thus to see Him, thus to receive 
Him ; but it is another and more blessed thing 
intelligently to apprehend the truth of union with 
a risen Jesus, as crucified with Him, buried with 
Him, quickened with Him, identified with Him in 
His resurrection-life. It was this glorious truth 
into which St Paul was earnestly endeavouring to 
lead the Ephesians, and the first three chapters of 
his epistle are devoted to the object of showing 
them that, as believers in Jesus^ they were thus 
united to Him in the heavenly places. It was this 
which he prayed that they might, through '' the 
enlightening of the eyes of their understanding," be 
enabled to know; not only that that knowledge 
might remain in their minds a barren intellectual 



STRONG MEAT. 143 

truth, but that the result of it might be, as he 
prays in his second prayer, (iii. 19,) " That Christ 
might dwell in their hearts," and that thus they 
mio-ht ^^be filled with all the fulness of God;" 
that is, that they might so feed on the " old corn of 
the land," so receive and have communion with 
this risen Lord, to whom they were united, that 
they might be " no more children," but grow up in 
the knowledge of the Son of God unto full stature 
and height. 

And all this was with the object of enabling them 
to wage the tremendous conflict with wicked spirits 
in heavenly places which is described in the 6th 
chapter. 

The meaning of the resurrection of the Lord 
Jesus, arid its bearing upon the standing of the 
believer, as quickened and raised together with 
Him, has been so much dwelt upon in the previous 
chapters of this volume, that I do not call further 
attention to the subject in detail now. The point 
before us is rather that, at a certain stage in the 
experience of the believer, he comes to apprehend 
Christ as his life and sustenance in a different 
character to that in which he apprehended Him 
when first, as a perishing sinner, he laid hold of 
Him for pardon and salvation. 

Not that there is any difference in Christ, nor 
that the advanced believer is more thoroughly 
united to Him than the young convert. The latter 
is as completely identified with the death and resur- 



144 THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND ; OR, 

rection of the Lord Jesus, and is as fully seated in 
the heavenly places, as the former. The forgiveness 
is as entire, the life as eternal, the acceptance as 
complete, in the one case as in the other. The bab^ in 
Christ and the father in Christ are equally united 
to Him, and the title of the one to all the blessings 
flowing from that union is as indefeasible as the 
title of the other. The vounoest child that had 
crossed over Jordan was as much in the land of 
Caanan as the veteran Joshua and Caleb. The 
difference lies not in the 2^ossessionoi " all spiritual 
blessings" in Christ,but in the apprehension of them. 
My child of a day old is as much my child, and as 
such, entitled to my love, protection, and care, as 
the one that has reached to maturer years; but by 
reason of youth it does not know all that it pos- 
sesses, or to which it is entitled. 

It is simply a question of degree of experience ; 
and it is evident that there are numbers of believers, 
true children of God, who, whilst they rest peace- 
ful ly in the blood of the Lamb that saved them 
from judgment, and feed daily on Jesus as the 
bread of life, have never even perhaps seen the 
deeper truths of union, identification, and com- 
munion with a risen and glorified Saviour, much 
less realised their power. The fact is, that the 
^^old corn of the land" embodies an aspect of 
Jesus as the source of His people's strength, that 
^' bread which strengtheneth man's heart," so deep, 
BO rich, that, advanced as our experience may be 



STRONG MEAT. 145 

we can ever discover more to be drawn out and 
appreliended. Even Paul, after many years of 
blessed communion, was compelled to say, "Not as 
though I had already attained," and ^^I count not 
myself to have apprehended." The great desire 
of his soul was that he might " know Him, and the 
power of His resurrection.'''* 

We are but children till we thus, at least in 
measure, know the Lord Jesus ; we cannot be said 
to have attained to the rest which the Lord our God 
giveth us, till we are able, with the judgment con- 
sciously behind us, to hold communion with Him, 
as those who are risen with Him. The Israelites 
were but in a transition state (so far as experience 
was concerned) until Jordan lay behind them, and 
with newly circumcised persons, and hearts freshly 
realising the value of the Lamb as their passover, 
they quietly feasted upon the rich provision so 
freely laid up for them in the plains of Jericho. 

And this brings us to an understanding of the 
third' point selected for consideration — the lesson 
taught by the exchange of the manna for the old corn 
of the land. 

The Israelites had arrived at maturity : they 
had a tremendous task before them; ^^ cities walled 
up to heaven," ^^ seven nations greater and 
mightier" than they, ^^giants, the sonsof Anak," 
were to be subdued and cast out; their real conflict 
was now to begin. They needed, therefore, no 

K 



14(5 THE OLD COBN OF THE LAND ; OR, 

longer children's food ; to strengthen them for 
this long and great campaign, the " finest of the 
wheat" was necessary. 

For, although miraculously given, although it 
was the ^' bread of heaven," the manna was still 
" light food." No doubt the Israelites, when they 
called it by that name, were wrong in loathing 
it, and in wishing to exchange it for the flesh- 
pots of Egypt ; but, compared with the rich nutri- 
tious produce of Canaan, it was probably '' light." 
Its cessation, therefore, and the substitution for 
it of other food, was doubtless to show that, in the 
new and better land, with higher privileges and 
greater responsibilities, there was a stronger and 
richer supply provided for them; for we cannot 
suppose that the provision for the wilderness, 
where they were " sujSfered to want," and were 
'' humbled," could be better than that which was 
appointed as their portion when they came into the 
enjoyment of the goodly land, the land of promise, 
w^ith its milk and honey, its olive-yards, and vine- 
yards, and cor?i-^e\ds. The wanderings and trials 
of the desert were over; the manna, which, though 
it fed, was given for the express purpose of 
" himibling " them, (Deut, viii. 3,) was therefore 
to cease. God had now brought them into the 
land of fatness. He '^made him to ride on the 
high places of the earth, that he might eat the 
increase of the fields." And it was therefore in 



STRONG MEAT. 147 

perfect liarmony with all the blessing which was 
now so richly given them that the stronger food 
should be supplied to them. 

We thus see clearly marked out two distinct 
stages in the life of the nation : the one wherein, 
as children^ they were fed with manna ; the other 
wherein, as men^ they partook of the old corn of 
the land. For each period there was suitable food; 
and as they were not allowed the corn of Canaan 
in the wilderness, so it would have shown a want 
of appreciation of the blessings of the land if they 
had wished to continue to feed upon that which 
was but fitted for them in an earlier stage. 

And we are as distinctly taught in the New Testa- 
ment, that the food which is suitable for the new- 
born babe would not do for the full-grown man ; 
but that in the rich supplies of God's Word pro- 
vision for each is found — the ^'milk" for the one, 
the ^^ strong meat" for the other. Both represent 
Christ. He is the alone food and sustenance of 
the soul that has been born again; but, as before 
pointed out, the two expressions describe Him as 
the One on whom, though in different aspects, the 
believer, either as child or man, feeds for the 
renewal of spiritual life. 

Thus, when St Peter addresses those who had 
been recently '^ born again," (1 Pet. i. 23,) he 
urges them ^'as new-horn babes'''' to '^desire the 
sincere (lit. unadulterated) milk of the Word," that 
they might ^^grow thereby;" but when the 



148 THE OLD COKN OF THE LAND; OR, 

Hebrew Christians are addressed, who had evi- 
dently reached roaturer age, they are blamed for 
needing ^'milk" instead of " strong meat;" for 
Jthey are told, that ^' every one that useth milk is 
unskilful in the word of righteousness ; for he is a 
babe. But that strong meat belongeth to them 
that are of full age, even those who by reason of 
use have their senses exercised to discern both 
good and evil," (Ileb. v. 12-14.) It was not in the 
" first principles of the oracles of Grod " that they 
ought to have needed instruction ; " for the time," 
{i,e.j considering their age,) they " ought to be 
teachers;" but they had become '^duU of hearing," 
and it was, therefore, with difficulty, the writer 
considered, that they would be able to understand 
and receive the " strong meat " connected with the 
high priesthood of Christ, which He was anxious 
to spread before them. 

In a similar strain St Paul writes to the Corin- 
thians : ^^And I, brethren, could not speak unto 
you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as 
unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, 
and not with meat : for hitherto ye were not able 
to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye 
are yet carnal : for whereas there is among you 
envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not 
carnal, and walk as men ?" (1 Cor. iii. 1-3.) Their 
condition was to be blamed ; their quarrellings and 
bickerings plainly sliowed that they were but 
cliildren in Christian life and practice ; they were 



STRONG MEAT. 149 

in a position answering to the wilderness condition 
of the Israelites, and needed light food ; they were 
" puffed up," (v. 2,) and required humbling and 
treating as children instead of as men. 

Now this we shall at once perceive was an un- 
worthy position for both the Hebrew and the 
Corinthian believers to occupy. But is there 
nothing similar to it in these days ? Where are 
the '' young men" who have ^^ overcome the world ?'' 
Where are the " fathers " in Christ ? What is the 
condition of the Churches of Christ now that 
eighteen hundred years have passed away since the 
advent of the Lord? Does not the Corinthian Church, 
with its parties and sects and denominations, its 
abuse of holy ordinances, its worldly and ungodly 
living, its lack of knowledge, even of the resurrec- 
tion, in a great measure represent it ? Does not, 
again, the slothful progress of the Hebrew Chris- 
tians, if progress it could be called, their general 
unskilfulness in the Word, their backwardness to 
teach others what they had learnt, exhibit what 
must be acknowledged to be in the main the actual 
state of the mass of professing Christians ? 

No doubt there are exceptions ; thank God there 
are some who delight in being truly able to say, 
" Though we have known Christ after the flesh, 
yet now henceforth know we Him no more," who 
do " know the power of His resurrection," who, by 
sweet communion with Him, are strengthened to 
fight His battles and overcome the wicked one, 



150 THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND ; OR, 

and whose joy it is to declare to others the rich feast 
which they are thus enjoying, in order that they 
too may have fellowship with them. But how few 
and far between ! Is not the spirit of many a 
pastor burdened with the thought that so few to 
whom he ministers can appreciate the strong meat 
on which he feeds ; that he must again and again 
teach those who '^for the time ought to be teachers, 
which be the first principles of the oracles of God ?" 
Perhaps there is a fault on both sides. Doubtless, 
in every sermon the simple gospel should be clearly 
preached, in order that no careless soul might, so 
far as the preacher was concerned, go away un- 
awakened, no anxious soul depart unblessed. Would 
to God that this were more remembered by those 
who are " ambassadors for Christ ! " But are there 
not some in every congregation who would value 
the old corn of the land, who thirst to have the 
Melchisedek priesthood and all its glories opened 
up to them, who would fain be led over the hills 
and valleys of the goodly land beyond Jordan, and 
who go away week by week only fed with milk, 
blessing God, it is true, for that sincere milk, which 
is ever fresh and sweet to their taste, but yet 
longing for stronger meat ? 

And if there be not such, is it not the pastor's 
work to awaken in the sheep of Christ's flock an 
appetite for richer pasture. Will he not best pro- 
mote the study of the Word, the exercising of the 
senses to discern both good and evil, by unfolding 



STRONG MEAT. l5l 

by degrees tlie rich provision that God has made 
for His people in His inexhaustible Word? Has 
the tree of life in the midst of the garden but one 
manner of fruit? Nay, we know it has twelve. 
The Word ever furnishes fresh and varying views 
of Jesus, suited to the ages, the capacities, the con- 
ditions of the dwellers in the garden. Why should 
preachers content themselves and starve the flock, 
by only holding forth one manner of fruit, v/hen 
God has provided twelve ? Verily, there is a fault 
on both sides. God be thanked for the many 
blessed exceptions ; but how many a church must 
be visited, till the seeker grows wearj^and sick at 
heart, before that exception is found ! 

Oh ! for a richer^ fuller, preaching of Jesus 
in all His glory, glorious as the bread of life 
which came down from heaven, (for we are in one 
sense still in the wilderness, and need the daily 
manna ; and thanks be to God, it is laid up for us 
in the sanctuary, and though ^' hidden, '^ is still to 
be enjoyed,) — glorious as the old corn of the land, 
the rich, and ever-fruitful supply of the needs of 
His people. 

Then should we see the hosts of God advancing 
in renewed strength to the conflict with the powers 
of evil around ; '^ strengthened with might by the 
Spirit in tlte inner man^'"^ by that Spirit who only 
renews and strengthens by exhibiting and commu- 
nicating Jesus and His love to their souls, they 
would arise, and, conscious of new life and power, 



152 THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND ; OR, 

would overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, 
in a way which has never been seen since, endued 
with that same strength, fed upon that same food, 
the handful of believers in days of old " turned the 
world upside down " and triumphed everywhere in 
Christ. 

Be not then content, dear reader, with the milk, 
precious and indispensable as that is at the begin- 
ning of life. As desirous as a mother is that her 
little one at the due season should exchange the 
food which was fitted to nourish it as a babe, but 
which would not strengthen it and cause it to grow, 
or, after a certain period, fit it for the active duties 
of life, so desirous is our heavenly Father that His 
sons and daughters should be '^ no more children " 
but they should ''grow in grace and in the knowledge 
of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." As 
Abraham made a great feast the day that Isaac was 
weaned, so is there rejoicing when the soul learns 
what it is to feed on Jesus in all the rich variety of 
characters and oftices which He bears, and whilst 
never forgetting Him, either as the passover in 
Egypt, the milk of the Word, or the manna of the 
wilderness, seeks to apprehend Him as "the fulness 
of God:' 

And as such the written Word reveals Him who 
is the Living Word. It needs, it is true, patient 
study, diligent search, and a prayerful spirit there to 
discover Him, but in all such labour there is pro- 
fit: ^^ Yea, if thou cries t after knowledge, and liftest 



STRONG MEAT. 153 

up thy voice for understanding; if tlion seekest 
her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid 
treasures ; then shalt thou understand the fear of 
the Lord, and find the knowledge of God/' (Prov. 
ii. 3-5.) 

The Word may be compared to a field, from 
the surface of which one is content to reap his 
harvest, while another digs below its surface and 
brings up hidden treasure. There is a ^'deep that 
lieth under," that can never be exhausted. The 
fulness of God in Christ is infinite. There is ''bread 
enough and to spare." He says, ''Eat, friends, 
drink, yea, drink abundantly, beloved;" "open 
thy mouth wide and I will fill it." 

It must be at the same time remembered, that as 
it was only after the circumcision had taken place and 
the passover had been kept that the old corn of the 
land was enjoyed, so it is only with hearts deeply 
conscious of what they owe of life and liberty to the 
precious blood of Christ, and purged from all 
iniquity by spiritual circumcision, that we are fitted 
to apprehend and enjoy " the finest of the wheat," 
which is provided in Jesus, and ministered to the 
soul by the Holy Ghost. The believer who has in 
experience forgotten the blood of sprinkling, or 
who is. not diligent in cleansing himself from all 
filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, will only be 
puff'ed up by the intellectual understanding of the 
deep things of God. " Whom shall He teach know- 
ledge? and whom shall He make to understand 



154 THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND. 

doctrine? Tliem that are weaned from tlie milk, and 
drawn from the breasts," (Isa. xxviii. 9.) It is the 
obedient children whom the Father loves to instruct 
and to whom He will show His glory. 

May that be our position and portion, for Christ's 
sake I 



THE DRAWN SWORD; OR, JESUS 
OUR LEADER. 

Joshua v. 13 — vi. 2. 

"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted 
up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over 
against him, with a sword drawn in his hand : and Joshua went 
unto him, and said unto him. Art thou for us, or for our 
adversaries ? And he said, Nay ; but as captain of the host 
of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to 
the earth, and did worship, and said unto him. What saith my 
Lord unto his servant ? And the captain of the Lord's host 
said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot ; for the 
place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. 
Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of 
Israel : none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said 
unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and 
the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.'* 

There was yet one thing lacking to make the 
armies of Israel ready at all points to advance to 
the attack of Jericho, but that one thing was 
all-important. They wanted a leader. However 
numerous the host, however great its valour, a 
skilful general was indispensable to success. True, 
tliey bad a leader in Joshua, who had commanded 



156 THE DRAWN SWORD ; OR, 

them in the occasional conflicts in which they had 
been engaged in their wanderings. Under his guid- 
ance they had overcome Amaiek, and it was pro- 
bably he who had led them against " Og the king of 
Bashan, and Sihon king of the Amorites." But on 
these occasions he was not their commander-in- 
chief. Moses still lived ; and there can be little 
doubt that the plans for the battle were formed 
under the direction of that servant of God. lu 
undertaking the siege of Jericho, Joshua was 
therefore placed in a novel and trying position. If 
Moses shrank from leading the people through the 
wilderness unless the distinct presence and guid- 
ance of God was continued, (see Exod. xxxiii. 
12-16,) much more might Joshua, so recently de- 
prived of the experience and counsel of that wise 
ruler, hesitate before he led the armies of Israel 
against the virgin fortress that barred their pro- 
gress. It was probably, therefore, whilst surveying 
the city, and considering with anxiety the best 
method of attack, that he was favoured with the 
vision and the revelation which the verses at the 
head of the chapter describe. It was as he stood 
" by Jericho, and lifted up his eyes and looked," 
that he beheld a man with a drawn sword in his 
hand. His appearance, as was naturally the case, 
at once aroused Joshua's attention. It must have 
been clear that he was not an Israelite, for if he 
had been, his dress would have rendered no inquiry 
necessary, and it was improbable that an inhabitant 



JESUS OUR LEADER. 157 

of Jericho would be aloDe in sucli close proximity 
to the armies of Israel. But whoever he might be, 
it was manifest that he was no neutral ; " Si sword 
drawn in his hand " plainly revealed that he was 
prepared to take a decided and active part in the 
deadly struggle that was on the point of com- 
mencing. To set all doubt at rest, Joshua without 
delay interrogated him, ^'Art thou for us or for 
our adversaries?" prepared, no doubt, either to wel- 
come him as an ally or to draw the sword upon 
him as an adversary. Imagine then the surprise 
of Israel's leader when the reply fell upon his ear, 
^'Nay! but as Captain of Jehovah's host am I now 
come." " It is not as a mere ally that I am here, 
it is not to enrol Myself under thy banner and to 
afford thee the assistance of an additional sword 
that I am come; it is to assume supreme command, 
to lead thee as well as thine army that My presence 
is manifested — thou art to fight under My bannef , 
not I under thine." 

'^ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and 
did worship." He at once in deep -reverence ac- 
knowledged the presence of One greater than man, 
and in lowly prostration at His feet inquired, 
^^What saith my Lord unto His servant?" He 
perhaps imagined him to be an angel, for there 
must have been a reason for the command which 
immediately followed, " Loose thy shoe from off thy 
foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy." 
Such reverence was never enjoined to be paid by 



158 THE DRAWN SWORD ; OR, 

man to angels : the direction must have imme- 
diately reminded Joshua of the wondrous story, 
which he had doubtless often heard from the lips of 
his departed friend and master, of the day when 
similar words had been addressed to him out of the 
burning bush, and had been directly followed by 
the announcement, " I am the God of thy father, 
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the 
God of Jacob." Yes, the conviction must at 
once have flashed upon his mind that he was in 
the presence of One ^'much better than the angels," 
of One who, though " Prince of Peace," had yet 
girded His sword upon His thigh, and had come 
forth for the salvation of His people. We are, 
however, left in no uncertainty as to the character 
and nature of Him who thus appeared to Joshua ; 
for the narrative is immediately continued in the 
words, ^^And the LORD said unto Joshua." It 
was indeed none other than Jehovah, who had 
come at the very moment when His presence and 
guidance were so sorely needed, to take command 
of the host, and to lead them forth to victory. 
He knew their want — He had come to supply 
it; and then to the reverently listening Joshua 
He proceeded to issue his orders with regard to 
the manner in which siege was to be laid to the 
city. 

These directions must be reserved for another 
chapter ; let as here proceed to study the promi- 
nent points in the incident just related : namely^ 



JESUS OUR LEADER. 159 

the drawn sword and the Captain of the Lord'^s 
host ; and may it be at the same time remembered 
that the subject is one "rhich demands our reverent 
attention. As it was with unshod feet that Joshua 
was directed to hearken to Him who then stood by 
him, as it was that Presence which made the place 
whereon he stood '^ holy ground," so let us bear in 
mind that we have to do with Him whose name is 
*' ftie Holy One of Israel," and seek to have out 
hearts in that submissive and reverent frame which 
the realised presence of our great God and Saviour 
cannot fail to cause. 

Let ns, then, first consider the drawn sword. 
What did it mean ? If the appearance of the Lord 
had only been intended to convey to Joshua the 
assurance of His presence, and that He was come 
to assume command of the host, the additional 
feature of the drawn sword in His hand would have 
been unnecessary. We must therefore conclude 
that something definite was to be meant by it, 
which would otherwise have been lacking. What 
was that lesson ? I believe it conveyed a twofold 
lesson. First, that there must be no hesitation in 
the conflict ; and secondly, no quarter to the enemy. 
A little consideration will show us that it was more 
than likely that the Israelites stood at that mo- 
ment in special need of such instruction. 

We can remember what dismay had been spread 
among the host when the returning spies described 
to them the strength of the fortresses of Canaan, 



160 TEE DRAWN S WORD ; OR, 

the power and size of the inhabitants of the land. 
'^ The people/' they said, " be strong that dwell in 
the land, and the cities are walled, and very great : 
and, moreover, we saw the children of Anak there. 
. . . And they brought up an evil report of the 
land which they had searched unto the children of 
Israel, saying, The land, through which we have 
gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the in- 
habitants thereof; and all the people that we saw 
in it are men of a great stature. And there we 
saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of 
the giants : and we were in our own sight as grass- 
hoppers, and so we were in their sight," (Num. xiii. 
28, ^2, 33.) The courage of the people instantly 
sank; "ihej lifted up their voice and cried; the 
people wept that night." ^^ Would God we had 
died in the land of Egypt!" they said, " or would 
God we had died in the wilderness ! " " Hath the 
Lord brought us into this land to fall by the 
sword ? Were it not better for us to return into 
Egypt? Let us make a captain, and let us return 
into Egypt." What a wretched exhibition of un- 
belief and cowardice ! and this too was after the 
victory over Amalek, in which the power of God 
had been displayed, a victory commemorated by 
the erection of an altar, called " Jehovah-nissi, the 
Lord my banner ; " it was when Moses was still in 
their midst, and the ^' men of war" had not yet 
died out from among them. 

If such was the case then, liow much more likely 



JESUS OUR LEADER. 161 

was it to be so now, when Moses had been taken 
away, and the men of war consumed from among 
tliem. They stood under the battlements of the 
walled cities, the account of which had so terrified 
their fathers, and almost face to face with the 
Canaanites, of great power and stature ? Was it 
not likely that the hearts of the children might 
fail them at this critical moment, like the hearts of 
their fathers, and that they might be ready to say 
once more, " It were better to return into Egypt ?" 

But a drawn sword implied that there was no 
option. When once the scabbard is flung aside, 
the battle is begun, war at least is declared, and 
to hesitate is to court defeat. The die was cast, 
they were in the enemy^s country, their position 
must be maintained, their claim made good by 
force of arms — the sword was drawn. 

And does not the soldier of Jesus Christ fre- 
quently experience the necessity of being reminded 
that he is by position and profession committed to 
a warfare with the world, the flesh, and the devil ; 
that there can be no neutrality, for the Master has 
said, " He that is not with Me is against Me, and 
he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad ;" 
that there must be no hesitation, for to falter is to 
fail? There is no Christian, perhaps, who has not 
at one time or another felt his spirit overwhelmed 
within him, as he has surveyed " all the power of 
the enemy" against whom he is called upon to 
fight And this not only when, " from Egypt 

L 



162 THE DBA WN SWORD ; OR, 

lately come/' in the earlier stages of his spiritual 
life he measures himself against the giants that 
oppose his progress. The tendency to hesitate, to 
flinch from a position of decided conflict, is as likely 
to beset the experienced believer, who has realised 
his position in the land of promise, and has come 
to the rest which God had promised him. Was it 
not the hero of the valley of Elah, he who had 
slain his " ten thousands," who " tarried still at 
Jerusalem at the time when kings go forth to 
battle?" And do we not remember what sin and 
sorrow followed that indulgence in luxury when 
there should have been the girding on of armour ? 
Yes; it is needful to be reminded constantly that 
this is in one sense " not our rest;" that we are 
never so safe as when girded to the battle ; that we 
are committed by our very calling and position to 
immediate and constant warfare with the enemies of 
God within us and without us. 

The phases of conflict to w^hich we are called 
may be very different. It was no longer against 
Amalek or Midian, but against ^*^ nations greater 
and mightier" than they that Israel had now to 
contend ; and it was the very fact of their being 
in the land of Canaan that constituted them the 
opponents of a new class of enemies. And so it is 
that our apprehension and realisation of union with 
Christ in heavenly places at once brings us into 
conflict with temj)tations that we were not con- 
Bcious of before, and makes us responsible for at 



JESUS OUR LEADER. 163 

once advancing to subdue, in the name of the Lord, 
the fortresses of sin and Satan, of which the world 
is, alas ! full. 

It is, therefore, after expounding to the Ephe-- 
sians the blessed truths on which we have dwelt 
in the preceding chapters, that the Apostle urges 
them to take unto them ^^the whole armour of 
God," the breastplate, the girdle, the shoes, the 
shield, the sword, and the helmet, that they may 
" be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked 
one, and having done all, to stand." For he says, 
'' AVe wrestle not against flesh and blood, but 
against principalities, against powers, against the 
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiri- 
tual wickedness in high places" (Eph. vi. 12). 
Yes ; though seated in the heavenlies, though in 
actual possession of all spiritual blessings, we have 
to wrestle; and if the armour be laid aside, or the 
sword sheathed, though but for a moment, we 
are for that momeni: off our guard, and liable 
to be overcome. " The drawn sword," then, fitly 
exhibits to us the necessity for a bold and decided 
attitude as soldiers of Christ; and there will be 
few readers of these pages, who know anything 
of Christian experience, who will not confess that 
the falls they have had, and the defeats they 
have sustained, have generally, in some measure 
at least, arisen from their having forgotten that 
they were in a country peopled by enemies, filled 
with danger, and where their only safety lay ia 



164 THE DRAWN SWORD ; OR, 

assuming and maintaining an attitude of uncom- 
promising hostility to sin. 

But it also taught the Israelites that " no quarter'''* 
was to be given, and was thus in precise accord^ 
ance with the commands previously issued : ^' Thou 
shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them, thou 
shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy 
unto them ;" '^ Thou shalt destroy their name from 
under heaven ; " ^^ Thou shalt save alive nothing that 
breatheth, but thou shalt utterly destroy them;" 
'' Thine eye shall have no pity upon them." And 
the reason for this extermination was added — 
'^ Lest thou be snared by following them." 

We know from their subsequent history how the 
neglect to carry out these commands involved 
Israel in constant trouble, and at last led even to 
their expulsion from the good land. It was by not 
driving out the inhabitants that they became gra- 
dually mixed up with them, learnt their ways, served 
their gods, and incurred their punishments. If 
they had onlj^ been faithful, how different would 
tlieir course and history have been ! But their 
failures are written for our admonition, and the 
lesson that they did not learn from that drawn sword 
we may, by God's help, apprehend and carry out. 

No quarter to sin. Yes, such is the command ; 
we are inclined to qualify it, to make excuses for 
not obeying it to the letter, to urge that it is 
impossible to carry it out completely, that our 
constitutions, our natural temperaments, our cir- 



JESUS OUR LEADER. 165 

cnmstances, prevent a thorough compliance — some 
sins may be resisted and overcome, but there are 
others to which we are apt to think we may fairly 
show some indulgence. Like Saul, wiien directed 
utterly to destroy the Amalekites, we excuse our- 
selves for showing mercy to some of our sins, and 
yet say, " I have performed the commandment of 
the Lord." It was untrue as long as there was a 
single Amalekite alive; it is untrue as long as any 
sin, great or small, is allowed to survive and work 
in us. " Our old man was crucified with Christ, 
that the body of sin might be destroyed^''' not that 
it might be allowed to live sometimes, or under 
some circumstances. 

Let me ask my Christian reader, for to such only 
do these truths apply, what has been the practice of 
your life? Have you resolutely set your face 
against, and, so to speak, drawn your sword upon, 
every evil habit, every sinful w^ay of which you 
have been conscious ? Do I not speak for others as 
w^ell as for myself when I say that we have tolerated 
the existence of habits, the continuance in sins, 
which our consciences have distinctly disapproved? 
And if so, what has been the consequence? Why, 
just what happened with the Israelites, that those 
w^ays and practices which we permitted to continue 
have grown in strength, and have often asserted a 
dominion and exerted an influence over us which 
has brought darkness and sorrow upon our lives. 



166 THE DRAWN SWORD ; OR, 

God well knew what He meant when He directed 
tlie complete extermination of the inhabitants of 
tlie land ; and His reason is as clear when He directs 
His people to maintain a constant and uncompro- 
mising hostility to all manner of sin. It would be 
too long a task to attempt to particularise here the 
numberless ways in which the people of God per- 
mit themselves to continue in the indulgence of 
things which they yet know are contrary to the 
will of God and to the mind of the Spirit, or the 
various excuses which they frame for themselves. 
Their name is Legion. Oh ! how well it would 
have been for us, if, like David, we could say, " I 
have*pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them; 
neither did I turn again till they were consumed. 
I have wounded them, that they were not able to 
rise : they are fallen under my feet," (Ps. xviii. 37, 
38.) With such warriors God is well pleased, while, 
on the contrary, His displeasure is on such as carry 
on a half-hearted warfare with sin : " Cursed be 
he," He says, " that doeth the work of the Lord 
deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his 
Bword from blood," (Jer. xlviii. 10.) 

As the drawn sword, then, implied no quarter to 
the enemies of God, so it teaches us that our war- 
fare against every high thing that exalteth itself 
against the knowledge of God, whether within or 
without us, must be constant and uncompromising, 
if we are to be ^'good soldiers of Jesus Christ." 
It is true, as I hope to be able hereafter to show, 



JESUS OUR LEADER. 167 

that the inhabitants of Canaan and their cities 
represent rather the power of the enemy in tlie 
world than that power in the hearts of the people 
of God ; and it is on the warfare wdth such power 
that I intend principally to dwell, if permitted to 
do so ; but the inward aspect of the same truth is 
so important that I feel that the few preceding 
words on the subject will not be out of place. 

We may now proceed to consider the second 
point, the Captaiii of the Lord's host. First, the 
person who assumed that position ; and secondly, 
the position itself. 

The person who assumed the position. We have 
seen that it was no man, no angel, but that it was 
Jehovah Himself who had thus drawn near and 
manifested Himself to Joshua. How gracious this 
was I Did it not convey to His servant the fact 
that He took the very deepest interest in the 
struggle that was about to be commenced? that 
although He was King of kings and Lord of lords, 
in w^hose sight " the nations are as the small dust 
of the balance" and ^^ less than nothing," He yet 
felt so concerned in the people w^hom He had re- 
deemed, that, notwithstanding their provocations 
and rebellions, He undertook Himself the guid- 
ance of their army? 

How small, how apparently and utterly insigni- 
ficant, was the war in the plains of Jericho! How 
infinitesimal a portion of the universe is this 
world ! how little the land of Canaan ! AVhat a 
handful of pigmies were the armies on either side! 



168 THE DRAWN SWORD ; OR, 

Yet ^^ the Lord God omnipotent," '' the great 
and only Potentate," espoused the cause of Israel, 
and came armed to the battle to lead them on to 
victory. 

How precisely suited to the need of His people 
was this manifestation of Jehovah ! It was exactly 
what they wanted. Just when they had arrived in 
the enemy's country, and were about to endeavour 
to cope with adversaries whose appearance had, 
forty years before, so terrified their fathers ; just 
as their hearts must have trembled as they thought 
upon the tremendous struggle before them, and 
the disastrous consequences that failure and defeat 
would bring upon them, and upon their wives and 
children, (for with Jordan behind them, their 
retreat was cut off;) just then. He who ruleth in 
the armies of heaven, the Lord God of hosts, the 
Lord mighty in battle, Plimself drew near to be 
their Captain. 

Oh, what comfort there is for the " soldiers of 
Christ" in this fact! They often know, as one of 
the most eminent of them declared, what '' weak- 
ness, fear, and much trembling" means. They 
know what it is to say, '' within were fightings, 
without were fears." And is not this specially 
the case with the young Christian as he surveys 
the power of the enemy, and considers his inex- 
perience, his sinfulness, his helplessness? How 
blessed, then, is it for such an one to know that 
One is come to help and strengthen him who is 
*' mighty to save," and before whose face aU 



JESUS OUR LEADER. 169 

enemies must be subdued ! It was when David 
could say, " Jehovah is the strength of my life," 
that he could add, " Though an host should encamp 
against me, my heart shall not fear ; though war 
should rise against me, in this will I be confident," 
(Ps. xxvii. 3.) 

If it be true, as has been stated, that Napoleon's 
soldiers felt that his presence was as good as a 
division of forty thousand men, how much more 
true must it be that the presence of the living God 
inspires comfort and courage into the hearts of 
His people ! Yes ; when He has said, " I will 
never leave thee nor forsake thee," we may boldly 
say, " The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear 
what man shall do unto me." 

This has been the secret of the confidence, and 
consequently of the success, of the mighty men of 
God in all ages, — whether it be Gideon against 
Midian, David against Goliath, Paul against 
Paganism, or Luther against corrupt Christendom. 
The source of strength and victory has been the 
same — the presence of the Lord. 

Take courage, then, doubting, trembling believer. 
Your enemies may be numerous and mighty, but 
they are ^' as nothing" to the living God; your 
power may have vanished, and there may remain 
no more strength in 'i/ou : but He who came, un- 
solicited even, to encourage Joshua and the 
Israelites by His presence before Jericho, draws 
near to you, and says, " Fear thou not ; for I am 
with thee 2 be not dismayed ; for I am thy God : I 



170 THE DRAWN SWORD ; OR, 

will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee ; yea, I 
will uphold thee with the right hand of My right- 
eousness. They that strive with thee shall perish ; 
they that war against thee shall be as nothing, 
and as a thing of nought," (Isa. xli. 10-12.) 

But let us notice the position that ih^ Lord 
assumed on this occasion. Do we not learn some- 
thing from the manner of His reply to Joshua? 
Not knowing at first who it was, Joshua had re- 
garded Him as a warrior who was about to afford, 
to one side or to the other, the assistance of His 
sword as a common soldier, whose presence would 
make but a difference of one to either side. In 
answer, then, to his inquiry, '' Art thou for us or for 
our adversaries?" He said, "Nay, but as Cap- 
tain of the Lord's host am I now come." It is 
not merely to help, but to govern ; not to lend 
thee some assistance, but to supersede thee in the 
command ; to assume the position of general-in- 
chief, and with that position to bear all its re- 
sponsibilities. 

This was altogether a different thing. It would 
have been a great thing to have had an angelic 
being on the side of Israel. What confidence it 
would have given if the Archangel Michael, oi 
Gabriel, who stands in the presence of Grod, had 
suddenly appeared to guide, or even to assist their 
army ! Victory would have been certain if even 
one of those " angels which excel in strength " had 
manifestly espoused the cause of Israel. We re- 
member bow, ou a subsequent occasion, " the 



JESUS OUR LEADER. 171 

angel of the Lord," in one nighty ^^ smote one 
hundred and eighty-five tliousand." But here was 
the Lord of the angelic hosts, who " maketh His 
angels spirits. His ministers a flame of fire " — the 
creator of angels and their sovereign Lord. Surely 
Israel might now face the foe with unwavering 
confidence, and sing of victory even before the 
battle was gained. And so may the Christian. It 
is to no conflict of uncertain issue that he advances; 
the result of the battle is not doubtful. The 
struggle may be severe, the warfare long ; he may 
sometimes, like the pilgrim, be beaten to the 
ground, and well-nigh lose his sword; but '^ though 
cast down" he is ^^ not destrtDyed." The Captain 
of salvation is on his side, and in the midst of 
sharpest conflict he can say, " Thanks be unto 
God, w4io giveth us the victory through our Lord 
Jesus Christ." Like David of old, he can advance 
even against giants, against opposition from the 
world, the flesh, and hell, for w^hich he is no 
match, with the certain assm^ance that the result 
shall be triumph, for the mighty Grod — the Lord of 
hosts is on his side. 

believer ! lay hold of this blessed truth — trust 
in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved 
— saved from the snares, the darts, the assaults 
that await you ; take all the comfort you possibly 
can draw from the fact that He who is invincible. 
He who never can be defeated, is your strength and 
your shield. 

But remember, He is not merely on your side; 



172 THE DRAWN SWORD ; OR, 

He is your Captain, You are not only devoid of 
strength, and need Him for that, but you have no 
msdom for the management of this terrible conflict, 
in which all the malice and subtlety of hell are 
against you. You are no match for that cunning 
which deceived unfallen man in Eden, for him who, 
we read, " deceive th the whole world.''* You are 
sure to make mistakes which will place you at his 
mercy. How blessed, then, to have an all-wise, 
as well as an almighty, Leader! One whose stra- 
tegy is matchless, and who never fails to lead those 
who trust in Him to victory. 

But if it is as Captain that He comes to our aid, 
it is in that character that we must honour Him. 
Our plans and schemes must be abandoned if they 
are not in harmony with His. Nay, more; we 
should never form them till we know His purposes. 
A soldier who would venture to plan an individual 
line of attack, instead of waiting for, and yielding 
implicit obedience to, the word of command, would 
be unworthy of the name of a soldier ; nay, the 
highest general in the army, if he attempted to 
follow his own scheme instead of that of the com- 
mander-in-chief, would be guilty of the grossest 
folly and insubordination. Nothing but ignomin- 
ious defeat could attend any army that was not 
completely under the command of ohe^ and one 
only. 

We see, therefore, that the moment the Lord 
assumed the command of Israel's hosts, it was His 



JESUS OUR LEADER. 173 

orders that tliey were bound to follow. The plans 
of Joshua, whatever they were, had accordingly to 
be laid aside. They niig'ht have been carefully 
meditated and skilfully arranged, but he was no 
longer in command ; and, in common with the 
meanest soldier of the army, he had to receive his 
orders from Him who had superseded him. He, 
moreover, probably found that the directions of the 
new Commander, as recorded in the following 
verses, were by no means those which he would 
have issued. The priests marching round the hos- 
tile citv, the blasts with rams' horns, the seven 
days' repetition of the same proceedings, the shout 
of the army, these were certainly to Joshua a new 
and strange way of attempting to take a city 
^'walled up to heaven." But it was not for 
him to question ; he had only to obey, and we well 
know that that obedience was rewarded by com- 
plete success. 

And such is the path of the soldier of Christ 
still. We are called " unto obedience.^ ^ Our wis- 
dom, as well as our strength, must be laid aside; 
our. duty is to follow, and therein is success and 
victory. 

For who is it that commands the army of the 
living God? Is it not Jesus — ^^ the wisdom of 
-God and the power of God?" Yes; He it is who 
is the " Captain of our salvation." It is of Him 
that it is written, '^ I have given Him for a Leader 



174 THE DKAWN SWORD ; OR, 

and Commander to the people/' (Isa. Iv. 4.) It is 
of Him that we sing — 

** One army of the living God, 
To His command we bow.*' 

Is it as true in our experience ? or do we not often 
find that, in endeavouring to fight the good fight, 
we as frequently lean to our own undeistanding as 
rely on our own strength, forgetting that it is as 
much our duty to submit to His directions for the 
warfare as to trust in Him as our power to main- 
tain it? 

Oh ! how many of our mistakes may be traced to 
this, that we have not come to Him for direction, 
that we have not placed ourselves at His disposal, 
but have thought that though we must depend on 
His aid for success, we must yet use our own wis- 
dom to plan our warfare and our work! And what 
have we then done? Why, like Peter, who drew 
Ids sword without being told to do so, we have 
done work which the Lord has had to undo, and 
taken steps that we have had painfully to retrace. 
Not that ^^ common sense" is to be disregarded, and 
the use of the understanding that God has given us 
is to be neglected, but that sense and that under- 
standing is to be subordinated to the Word of God, 
and used in complete subjection to Him who gra- 
ciously condescends to direct it. He has given us 
the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound 
viind^'' but the soundness of mind is maintained 



JESUS OUR LEADER. 175 

only in proportion as the heart is brought into, 
contact with the Word of God. " Let my heart be 
sound in thy statutes/' rightly prayed David, for 
he knew what the result would be, as he added, 
'' that I be not ashamed.^'* 

Our " Captain," our '' Leader and Commander," 
then, is Jesus. As such, no less than as Saviour, 
does He still say, '^ I am come." Our business is, 
as '' good soldiers of Jesus Christ," to look for the 
" general orders " which He issues, to seek by 
prayer to understand them, and by faith to obey 
them ; we need then have no doubt of the issue. 

But, lastly, let us gather for our instruction and 
profit this further lesson ; the responsibility of the 
battle is upon our Captain. True that each sol- 
dier is responsible for the performance of his 
individual duty, and that '' every man shall give 
account of himself to God," but the responsi- 
bility of success is with Him whose commands he 
obeys. 

The moment the " Captain of the Lord's host " 
superseded Joshua, the responsibility of the cam- 
paign was transferred from the latter to the former; 
and therefore, whilst Joshua would strain every 
nerve to carry out to the letter every direction he 
received, he would at the same time feel that he was 
relieved from all the weight of care and anxiety 
that must till that moment have rested upon him. 
He could now be '' without carefulness," and could 
advance as the earthly leader of the armies of 



176 THE DRAWN SWORD; OR, 

Jsrael witli the quietness and peace of one who 
kuew that the plan of attack was devised by in- 
finite wisdom, and that the omnipotent Jehovah 
was there to execute the scheme. 

And it is the knowledge of this that gives the 
believer great peace, though in the midst of earnest 
and aggressive Christian work in the world, or in 
the constant conflict with the flesh and the devil 
which is waged in his own heart; as long as he 
casts this care, in common with his other cares, 
upon Him who is the great burden-bearer of His 
people, he has quietness of heart. So he is relieved 
of responsibility; having ^^committed his way unto 
the Lord," he ^Hrusts in Him," knowing that^'He 
shall bring it to pass," and thus he is kept in 
'' perfect peace," for " his mind is stayed on Him." 

How blessed it is, then, to know that we have in 
Jesus not only a Saviour from the penalty of our 
guilt, a Deliverer from the wrath to come — not 
only One who condescends to help us in the warfare 
to which we are called, but One who undertakes the 
wliole responsibility of the conflict, upon whose 
shoulders is the government, and who is pledged 
to lead His people to victory as " Captain of their 
salvation," to bring His '^many sons to glory!" Let 
us receive Him in the gracious character in which 
He is pleased to reveal Himself to us, accept Him 
as Leader and Commander as well as Hedeemer, 
yield to His sway without distrust or hesitation, 
and we shall joyfully prove that, though the fight 



JESUS OUR LEADER. 177 

of faith be severe and long, we shall be able con- 
stantly to say, " Thanks be unto God who giveth 
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Joshua's attitude and Joshua's words are full of 
deep instruction for us, on which, however, it is 
hardly necessary to dwell at length. The attitude 
of worship and the expression of ready obedience 
are the great requisites for those who are the 
redeemed of the Lord and the servants of the 
Most High God. " What saith my Lord unto His 
servant?" — ^^ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to 
do?" — ^^ Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." 
These words, whether uttered by Joshua, Paul, or 
Mary, describe the desire and the duty of the sol- 
dier of Christ. May it be our blessed privilege to 
realise their wondrous depth of meaning, and then 
we shall indeed prove that it is as true now as 
it was then, that guidance is given, miracles are 
wrought, and victory bestowed, and we shall be able 
to say with joy, THANKS BE UNTO GOD, WHO 
ALWAYS CAUSETH US TO TEIUMPH IN 
CHRIST 1 



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